CARTHAGE: Project X
by Adventurer411
Summary: When you throw new students, monstrous monsters, mysterious mysteries, puzzling puzzles, and rib-tickling romance into the mix of the Lyoko warrior's lives, things can get very complicated in a very rapid fashion. Chapter 13 up: Twi tries her hand at Lyoko as the others attempt to recover Aelita's missing fragments.
1. Kadic Academy

**Disclaimer: Neither I, nor Matson, owns ANY (sniffle) of these characters, except the OCs we made up: Colton and Star...**

(Matson wrote this. I'll be writing the next chapter. So, to be clear, any, and all credit for this goes to Matson! I only edited. He wrote. His chap. Read now:)

POV: Colton (Matson's OC)

I boarded the plane and took a seat next to the window. Looking out the window, I could see my parents waving good-bye to me. I waved back, stifling a couple tears, knowing that I wouldn't see them for a couple of years.

They turned and left as the pilot gave they last boarding call. I stared out the window a bit more, trying to think what the new school year would be like.

About a month ago, a couple of students (including myself, of course) took a test to see if we could win a scholarship to attend a new school in France. The test was insanely hard, quizzing me on a foreign language, math, and a lot of other really hard subjects.

Amazingly, I had passed the test, with around 79% correct. Before I knew what was going on, my Dad told me to pack my bags, because I was boarding the next plane to France.

Suddenly, I was interrupted from my thoughts when a girl quickly walked up next to me. She was unlike anyone I'd seen before. Her blond hair was long, with a green highlight in the lock of hair that fell in her face, blocking out most of her right eye. She wore glasses like mine, except the frames were detailed with stars. Her eyes were light lime-green and sparkled with light. She wore a simple green t-shirt, with an alternating lime-green and yellow star pattern. She wore simple blue jean-shorts with a yellow and black star pattern at the bottom. She slid her backpack under the seat before introducing herself.

"Hi, I'm Star. Is this seat taken?" She chirped.

"No; go ahead," I replied.

"Where are you headed?" She asked.

"Eh, I'm going to France to attend a new school," I said in a bored tone.

"Wow, are you kidding? What a coincidence; I am too!" She said, cracking an even bigger smile.

"Really? What grade?" I asked.

"I'm going to Eighth grade. What about you?" She responded.

"I'm a Sophomore. Wow, what are the odds?" I said, glad that I already had a new friend for the new school year.

"I know, right? She replied. "So...? Sorry, I didn't catch your name...?"

"Oh, I'm Colton," I replied, extending my hand.

"Nice to meet you Colton," She said as she grabbed and shook my hand.

Before long, we were lost in conversation. We talked about our lives at home, family, school, the new year ahead of us, and a bunch of other things. Two bathroom breaks and three and a half hours of flying later, we had arrived at the airport and proceeded to the baggage claim.

"We're here already?" Star asked, looking around.

"That was awfully quick for a four-hour flight." I said, looking at my phone's clock.

"I know. So...Where do we go?" Star asked, picking up her bags. They were, of course, lime-green and yellow with stars.

"I dunno," I said, picking up my duffel bag. My bag had a woodland camouflage design.

**(A/N) Yes, I do a buncha military-type things...And yes, that is my design...**

"Oh, wait! Look over there!" Star exclaimed, pointing to a person holding a sign that said 'KADIC' in big, bold letters.

"Come on, let's go!" She said, dashing off toward the person. I had to walk quickly to avoid being left behind.

**(A/N) Okay, because I know ABSOLUTELY no French, I'm just going to leave it in English (Duh!))**

The man was a rather tall, yet large, man. He wore a red sweatshirt and gray sweatpants with white tube socks and white sneakers. His brunette hair was messy and uncut, with a red and white headband across his forehead. His face (Which, for some weird reason, had a band-aid on it) looked annoyed, if anything at all. He definitely didn't shave too often, as I could see whiskers lining his face. His eyes were hazel, but had a look that said "Stay out of my way, I'm nuts."

"Are you the transportation to Kadic Academy?" Star asked.

"Yeah; wait here with me until the last of the students show up," He responded.

"Great," I moaned, sinking into a nearby chair.

"Relax, they'll be here soon. In the mean time, why don't we play a game?" Star asked.

"Like...?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Um...Well... We could- no... but- never mind. Ahh," She said, thinking.

I laughed when she gave up.

"Oh wait! I've got my laptop!" I said reaching into my duffel bag.

"You've had that thing this whole time?" Star asked, giving me a glare. I grinned at her.

"I'm evil, huh?" I asked as I pressed the button, screen flickering to life.

Star and I played a couple of online games over the airport's wi-fi connection. Finally, after an hour or so, the last plane entered the terminal. After we were all accounted for, the teacher lead us to a bus and told us to taake our seats.

Of course, I sat next to Star again.

"Want the window?" I offered.

"Does it really matter?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Where I come from, people sometimes get killed for the window seat," I said jokingly, putting on a solemn face.

Star obviously didn't get that I was joking, because a look of worry and fear flashed in her eyes.

"I'm kidding, it's just a joke," I said quickly, sitting by the window.

She looked relived and sat down next to me. Then she punched me on the shoulder.

"Ouch; why did you do that?" I demanded, rubbing my shoulder.

"You scared me to death. Try not to do it again," She grinned.

The bus took off and we were on our way to Kadic. Star pulled out a book, (_Eragon)_ and began reading.

My laptop was dead, so I just stared out the window.

Along the way, we passed by a huge abandoned factory. Still staring at it, I noticed a blond-haired boy run inside of it.

"Star, did you see that?" I asked, perking up.

"See what?" the blond asked, looking out the window. "I don't see anything," she said.

"But there was a guy running into that factory!" I said, scanning the shadows of it. Sure enough, the blond was now gone.

"The radiation from your laptop is frying your head!" she said, knocking a fist gently on my head.

"You just love hitting me, don't you?"

"It _is _actually pretty fun."

I sighed, still staring out the window to the factory. There was something special about it. I could just feel it, stirring up inside me. I knew that there had to be something big inside.


	2. Meet the Lyoko Warriors

(I wrote this one!)

POV: Star

At the gentle nudge of Colton to inform me that we were there, I marked my place in my book and looked out the window, studying the huge academy.

It consisted of a courtyard, (where I could see students milling about) and a few smaller buildings scattered around a very large one. There were some plants and bushes on the grounds, and a building smaller than the rest, which was probably some sort of shed.

"Are you going to keep daydreaming, or get off the bus?" Colton Joked.

"Yeah, right, I'm coming," I said, grabbing my (of course) lime green and yellow bag, which I had decorated myself. My parents didn't mind, as _they _were the ones who actually suggested it, since I wanted a colorful bag and there were none in stock.

Still staring at the giant building, I followed Colton out of the bus and stopped in the cluster of children who had been on the bus. My thoughts suddenly jerked to that old factory that Colton had pointed out, and I remembered the blond boy running inside of it. It seemed pretty weird... pretty interesting.

_What am I saying? This is just an old factory, nothing special. Pay attention, _I snapped at myself, suddenly aware that the big man (who was apparently name Jim) started talking.

"The dorms are in this building, but first, you can stop to pick up your schedule at the office, which is in that building," he said, pointing first to a building on the left, then on the right.

"Breakfast starts at 7:00am; you cannot be in your dorm from 8:30 to 3:30, and supper is at 7:00pm. The girls' dorms are upstairs, and the boys' are downstairs. Girls are not allowed to be in the boys' dorms at night, and vice versa. Curfew is 8:30. You may go receive your schedules now," Jim said in a bored tone, distractedly pointing to the building on the right.

We nodded and made our way over to the office. Since there were enough people for it to be crowded, Colton and I waited until everyone had filed out.

Instantly, my thoughts flew back to the factory. _It's just a factory. It's not special. It's old, abandoned, and boring... _

Despite my mental argument, I still knew, deep down, that I wanted to explore that factory.

"Star? Hey, you in fairy-tale land or something? It's our turn," Colton said as he waved his hand in front of my face, shaking me from my thoughts.

I slapped him on the shoulder. Well, it wasn't really _that_ hard...

"Ouch!" he whined, holding his shoulder. "Why did you do that?"

"Oh, come on pansy, I didn't hit you that hard. Besides, I hate it when people wave their hands in my face," I said.

"Well, I'll make sure I don't do it, next time," Colton grumbled, rubbing his shoulder.

I rolled my eyes before heading into the office and retrieving my schedule.

I briefly scanned it over before looking over to Colton, who was reading his own.

"Trade?" I asked.

"Just because we trade schedules, it doesn't mean we actually trade classes," he told me, looking up from the paper.

I rolled my eyes. "No, you idiot. I want to see your schedule, and I'm sure you want to see mine, too." I grinned to take the sting out of my words.

"Oh, yeah... I knew that. I was joking," he said with a half smile, handing me his schedule in exchange for his.

Man, if I keep rolling my eyes at him, they're going to end up falling out of their sockets...

"Hey, we have the same classes." I was the first to notice the relativity.

"Yeah. Hey, it says that you have a roommate. Her name is... Aelita. Her name is Aelita Stones," Colton said.

"That's an unusual name," I mused aloud.

"You're saying that _she_ has an unusual name?" Colton asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"That you- uh, nothing," Colton said quickly as he saw the look in my eyes.

Then, I unintentionally let a grin broke through, ruining the facade. "I'm just kidding. I know that my name is a bit weird, but I've always liked it," I admitted. "I wonder what my roommate will be like... Speaking of which, you have a roommate too. His name is Jeremy Belpois," I said, once again switching his schedule for mine.

"Hm..."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, nothing, just going hm," Colton smiled.

I shook my head as we headed out of the office to the dorms. "See you later. I'm going unpack," I said as we reached the dorms, starting up the stairs.

Walking down the hall, I searched for at least three minutes without any success. "How can I keep missing it?" I muttered to myself under my breath.

_Because you were thinking about the factory, _a small voice inside my head told me. I tried to push it down as I approached a girl in the hall.

"Um, excuse me, but could you show me where room 213 is?" I asked.

The girl had long, raven hair, and was wearing a pink shirt with a heart on it that exposed her navel. Her pants were a dark pink to match, and she was wearing make up. I could tell at once, by the look she gave me, that she was sassy, snotty, and just plain mean.

"I _could, _but I would be horribly wasting time on you. Are you brain dead, or something? Don't you know your numbers?" she scoffed, speaking the last sentence like she was trying to explain something hard to a two year-old.

Feeling my fists clench, I opened my mouth to tell her off, when another voice did it for me.

"_You're _the one who's brain dead, Sissi. Now why don't you leave her alone, and back off," the voice spat.

I saw a look of intense hatred on Sissi's face, so I turned around to see who had gotten her all riled up. It was a girl with pink hair, (Which I thought was awesome, even though pink isn't even my favorite color) and a burgundy jumpsuit with light pink jacket hood underneath, and dark pink boots to match the jumpsuit. If I could describe her in one word, it would be pinkilicious. (I don't think that's a word, though, sadly)

"Oh, look, _Aelita Stones,_" Sissi said, spitting out her name.

_She must be my roommate, _I remembered.

"Are you still wearing that old jump suit? It's _so _out of style. It makes you look like a baby," she laughed scornfully.

Aelita looked down at her outfit, defiant expression faltering.

I could see Sissi's lips curl up in a sort of smirk, and I couldn't bear to see her have the satisfaction.

"Yeah, well, your outfit isn't too flattering either. I happen to like her jumpsuit," I shot back, words out of my mouth before I'd even realized it. I felt a twinge of satisfaction as her smirk fell.

"I'll have you know that this is newest trend," she spat at me.

"Yeah, the newest trend from the 1970's," I laughed.

Sissi clenched her fists and fumed before storming off into a room two doors down, which I guess, was hers. Feeling a wave of satisfaction, I grinned at the closed door.

"Wow. No one usually speaks to Sissi like that," Aelita's surprised voice said.

"Yeah, well," I huffed, "that girl obviously has some sort of _big _problem, and someone _should_ speak to her that way."

"Biggest understatement of the year," Aelita giggled. "So, I heard you were looking for room 213?"

"Yeah." I (tried to) brush the strand of hair out of my eyes, and pushed up my glasses. "I'm Star, and I'm your new roommate," I smiled.

"Oh, okay. Come on," Aelita motioned for me to follow with a slight nod of her head.

We went down three doors, and she used her key to get in. I almost bumped into the pink-haired girl as she suddenly stopped in the doorway.

"Hey, I wanted to ask... The jumper, do you really think that it's...?" She grimaced down at her outfit, shifting uncomfortably.

"No, it's nice. I like it," I assured her.

"Thanks," she smiled, seeming relieved as we walked inside and I set my bag down, pulling the other bed from a panel in the wall.

I took about fifteen minutes to unpack, and headed off to supper twenty minutes afterward.

I got in line and joined Colton at an empty table.

"Sho, wha wash your roommate like?" he asked me, words slurred by his full mouth.

I pulled a face. "Please don't talk with your mouth full. My roommate was really nice, actually. Although, I met this other girl, that was pretty-"

"Ooh, she was cute?" Colton intervened.

I resisted the urge to punch him. "No, she was pretty _mean. _Actually, she was really mean. Aelita stopped her from picking on me, but then the girl started picking on her. I stopped her, and made her pretty mad."

"This girl sounds like the devil. Who is she?" Colton asked.

"Her name was-"'

"You're sitting at our table," came an icy voice.

"Speak of the _devil_," I muttered to Colton.

"Then, I turned to Sissi, surprised to see two boys standing behind her, waiting expectantly with their trays.

"Actually, I believe I'm sitting at the school's table. You have no right to claim it," I said.

"Yes I do. I'm the principal's daughter," Sissi sniffed.

I could see Colton glare and open his mouth to refuse, when I held a hand up.

"It's not worth it," I told him. "She'll probably badger us the whole time," I said, directing the last few words (Icy glare of my own included) to Sissi. She smirked as we got up and tried to find to find another seat.

Colton sighed. "I hate her already."

"Yeah, I know."

We couldn't find another two seats, because people kept refusing us, saying that we were new and _unpopular. _Each time we were refused, I gritted my teeth and walked away, turning my back to snickers.

"I'm going sit on the floor," I said curtly to Colton after being refused three times.

"Okay," he sighed. "I'm going to see if I can get another table."

While I went against the wall and resumed eating, Colton went to another table. Surprisingly, he came back about ten seconds later, without a tray.

"Hey, I finally got us a table. These people will let us sit with them."

"Wow, really? That's great."

I got up and followed Colton to a table inhabited by three boys and a girl. I was surprised to see that the girl was Aelita, my roommate. There were two blond and one brunette boy.

"Hey Star. Why didn't you tell us that you had no where to sit?" Aelita asked with a smile as I slid into a seat next the brunette and the blond, who had a streak of purple in his hair. (which was pretty cool, I thought) Colton took a seat on the other side of the table.

"Uh, I don't know, I guess," I smiled shrugging my shoulders. "We actually had a table until Sissi kicked us off, saying that it was hers. We refused at first, but she kept bothering us until we agreed."

Everyone around the table assumed expressions of disgust.

"Yeah, you'll have to watch out for her. Just because she's the principal's daughter, Sissi thinks she's better than everyone else. She even has little slaves that follow her around all the time," Odd rolled is eyes, cocking his head toward Sissi's table.

I felt an unfamiliar feeling stir inside. I mentally frowned in confusion. Then I saw the blond bespectacled boy whisper to Aelita.

"That's Star, my roommate," I heard her whisper back. "Star, these are my friends." She looked to the blond.

"I'm Jeremy Belpois."

"Oh, you're Colton's roommate."

I received a nod.

"I'm Odd," the blond next to me said, shaking my hand.

There's that weird feeling again... I can feel my heart flutter.

"Yes you are," the brunette grinned.

Odd scowled.

"I'm Ulrich," the brunette said. "Nice to meet you guys."

"Likewise. This is my friend, Colton."

He gave a small wave.

The table erupted into conversation.

"I like your hair," Odd suddenly smiled, looking at the green streak.

"Thanks," I reply, suddenly feeling bashful as my cheeks turned pink.

We finished supper in five minutes (Odd finished it in less. I'm surprised he's still so scrawny, with how much gusto he eats with)

I went with Aelita back to the dorm, when she suddenly started grinning at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. You're on cloud nine," she giggled.

"Your point...?" I asked, suddenly realizing I had been thinking about Odd.

"I think I know what you're daydreaming about. Or, should I say _whom_?" she asked, eyes sparkling.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..."

"I know you like Odd."

_So** that** was that weird feeling... _

I shrugged, feeling my cheeks glow, but didn't deny it.

"I knew it. You were staring at him during lunch," Aelita giggled.

"Aw, no, I was? Great... Listen, you won't tell anyone, huh...?" I asked.

"I promise," Aelita grinned as I took out my key and we both went in.

She immediately started gathering her shower supplies, and walked out. I almost did the same, but something stopped me. Acquiring an excited smile, I ran out the door, almost forgetting to close it, and hastily descended the stairs. Then I searched for Colton's room, but instead, bumped into him.

"Ouch... Star, what are you doing down here?" he asked, rubbing his head.

I noticed the shower supplies in his hand. "Put those back," I said, pointing to them, "because we are going explore that old factory."

He looked to his bag, then to me.

"Well, I don't know... curfew is in a half hour..."

"Come on, we'll be quick. Besides, don't tell me that you don't want to find out what's in there, too...?" I urged. I knew I had won by the look on his face.

"Well, okay. I'll be right back," Colton said dashing into a room a few doors down and coming right back out, closing the door behind him.

Ten minutes later, we jogged into the forest, panting.

"I still... don't know about... this," Colton said.

"Relax," I told him. "Besides... What could happen?" (I didn't know it yet, but those three words were probably the most jinxed words in history)

* * *

Temporary POV change: Normal

As Jeremy went back to the room to grab his towel, which had been left behind, he noticed Colton wasn't there.

The blond didn't have time to ponder that, however, because that's when an alarm popped up on his computer screen. Jeremy groaned.

He grabbed his phone on the bed, and dialed a familiar number.

"Come on, come on, pick up already..."

"Hello Jeremy," came Aelita's confused voice.

"Aelita, where are you?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, I'm in my room. I just got out of the shower," Aelita said in the same tone.

"Xana has activated a tower."

He could hear a groan on the other end.

"Jeremy, I've got a roommate. Curfew is in 25 minutes. She'll want to know where I'm going," Aelita said.

"You'll have to make something up," Jeremy said before hanging up.

Aelita almost groaned again, until she noticed that Star wasn't there. Shrugging, she started to dial Yumi just as Jeremy dialed Ulrich.

12 minutes later, Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita were assembled at the factory, and Yumi was on her way. All were in pajamas, except Jeremy.

"Weird... Xana hasn't launched an attack on earth yet," Odd mused.

Suddenly a black substance started leaking out of the computer.

"You _had _to say that," Jeremy sighed.

It took the mutilated form of a human. Twisting it's head (Well, it was a sort of head) into an unpleasant expression, it immediately lunged at Jeremy.

He screamed and stepped back, but the monster grabbed the blond and electrocuted him before throwing him to the wall. Jeremy slid down with a moan, and moved no more.

Aelita would have ran over to him, but at that moment, the monster lunged at her. This time, they were all ready.

To her half-annoyance, Odd and Ulrich jumped in front of her. Sure, she was grateful for the protection, but she what she _didn't_ like was being the weak person, always needed to be protected.

Odd got ready to hit it with a piece of metal, but it just slinked back into the computer.

Aelita ran over and fell to her knees beside Jeremy, putting and ear to his chest and two fingers on his wrist-pulse.

"He's unconscious," Aelita reported.

"That was Xana's aim," Ulrich grimaced.

Aelita sighed. "Well, there's nothing I can do. I'll just have to set up a delayed virtualization," she said, going over and typing on the computer.

They all got in the elevator, Aelita stealing one last glance at Jeremy before the elevator doors closed.

* * *

POV: Star

"This is so weird," I murmured, tracing a finger along some metal cabins.

"I think it's cool," Colton said as he stepped inside of one.

I did the same, inspecting the interior. Hearing the elevator doors open, I whirled around to face them, still in the cabin. My jaw dropped and my eyes bulged as the doors opened to reveal Ulrich, Aelita, and Odd.

There were a few sharp intakes of breath, and Aelita's eyes widened.

"Star! A-And Colton; what are you guys doing here?" Suddenly panic flashed in her eyes. "Get out of there, before it-"

Suddenly there was pneumatic hiss, and all I saw was Aelita's panicked expression and Colton's fearful one before doors came into my view and closed, trapping me in darkness.

* * *

Usually, I'm not evil, but... cliffhangers are so fun...

Matson: Oh yeah, reaalll evil. -rolls eyes-

Adventurer411: Did you roll your eyes at me?

Matson: Maybe...

Adventurer411: Ill have you know that I am waaayyy more evil than you, at least.

Matson: Who said I even wanted to be evil?

Adventurer411: Uh, er...

Matson: Yeah, that's what I thought. What's the point to even put me in this random conversation...?

Adventurer411: Because it's fun... Also, it works better when two people ask for reviews.

Matson: Good point. Reviews would be nice, thanks.

Adventurer411: Yeah! Review...


	3. Staffs and Pistols

**Disclaimer: We don't own anything, except for our OCs and their Lyoko outfits, blah blah blah etc. **

**Matson wrote this Chap. I edited it.**

* * *

**POV: Colton**

I only had time to give Star a scared look before the cabin suddenly hissed and slammed shut, cutting me off from her and the others.I slammed my fist against the door, hoping it would budge, but to no avail. A light flickered on, growing steadily brighter.

"What the...?" I mumbled, looking around.

Finally, the light grew so bright, I had to close my eyes. Suddenly, there was a loud _whoosh, _and a blast of wind spread across my face., messing up my hair and ruffling my bangs. Then, there was nothing.

I could see the ground, about 10 feet below me, but I wouldn't fall, and I couldn't even move. After about an instant, I fell down, landing straight on my butt.

"Ouch..." I moaned. Suddenly Star (Or someone who looked a lot like her, rather) appeared in the air next to me, and also fell on her backside.

"Ouch, that hurt... Why couldn't we have appeared on the ground?" she complained.

"I know, right...?" I muttered. "Star, is that really... Is that really you?"

"No, I'm just a girl that looks and sounds exactly like her," she answered. "What am I wearing...?"

She was wearing wearing lime green tights with stars on them, and a matching shirt that had sleeves extending to the elbow. She was also wearing a pair of loose fitting transparent pants over her tights, with matching sleeves that started at the elbow and ended at the wrist. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, although the lock of hair was still in her face, and her glasses were replaced with some cool shades. The shoes were lime green, looking like the type sprinters used on fast runs, and on her back was a kind of foot-long stick with an emerald-type stone, shaped like a star, set on the top. On her right hand, there was a light blue glove that looked like it was made out of ice, and the fingers were cut off at the second knuckle.

"Look at you, Private Matson!" She said, eyeballing my outfit.** (A/N) Yes, my last name is Matson, and yes I used it as my user name.**

I suddenly noticed the outfit I had on. It was a U.S. Navy seal woodland combat outfit complete with a hat and boots. My entire outfit, (except for the boots and belt) was camouflage. I had a camouflage hat with a black U.S. Navy seals insignia in the middle. Black lines were painted under my eyes. My jacket was, of coarse, camouflage with the sleeves rolled up to my triceps, and the bottom hanging past my belt. My pants were, still camouflage, and bloused at the boots. My boots were tan and EXTEREMELY rigid. On my back was a 7-round assault shotgun with a stock and a sling. Two Colt 9mm. handguns were strapped to my thighs with 15 round magazines in both.** (A/N THEY ARE CALLED MAGAZINES, PEOPLE! NOT "CLIPS", SAY THAT IN THE MILITARY AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS!) **There was a 15-inch serrated black tactical knife with a digital design strapped to my left shoulder.

"Whoa, what happened to us, Star?" I asked, looking over my new outfit.

"I don't know, the doors to those...what ever they are just closed and..." She said inspecting herself.

"Well at least we're on the page here," I sighed. "Where are we?"

"I have no clue," She said, looking around.

"Star… Colton…? Can you hear me?" A voice called.

"Aelita…? Where are we? Where are you?" Star asked, looking up for the source of the voice.

I looked around. The place was a tan color and looked sandy, almost like a desert.

"Well, it's… It's pretty hard to explain. You're in a virtual world called Lyoko."

"Virtual worlds don't exist!" I called up to Aelita.

"Yeah, I would say that too, but this one is. Hang on. I'm going to try to pull you out of there. Just wait a couple of minutes," Aelita said.

I could hear the faint sound of typing and some sort of beeping, which was probably a failure indicator, followed by what I thought was Aelita swearing.

"Hey, Colton…? You wouldn't happen to know what those are, huh?" Star asked, nudging me and pointing to the right.

"Huh?"

She was pointing at three creatures. They looked kind of like a crudely made sandstone cube, held up by four red legs. In the center of the cube was a kind of insignia, like a black bulls-eye with three legs at the bottom and one leg on top.

"What in the world...?"

"What in _this_ world..." Star corrected me.

"Oh no…" I heard Aelita's faint voice.

"Oh no…? What's 'oh no'…?" I asked, feeling a bit of panic flare up inside of me.

Suddenly, the creature's eye began to glow red, and then fired a laser at us. The blast narrowly missed my face.

"Well, whatever they are, I don't think they like us!" I yelled.

"I agree! I think it would be good to beat it!" Star yelled just as it fired another laser that flew past her arm. She and I took off in opposite directions from those...Whatever you call them.

"Aelita, some weird creatures are attacking us! What do we do?" Star yelled.

"Just hang on! We'll be there in a second! In the meantime, why don't you take shelter and see if you can find your weapons? Aelita suggested.

"Okay!"

We both dashed behind some tall rocks, sagging against it and panting.

"Well, I think I know what your weapons are," Star noticed, looking me up and down, "but, what about me?"

"Well, for starters, you could probably use that bright outfit to blind them," I suggested.

"Hilarious," Star growled. "I'm pretty sure I could use this staff for something."

She reached behind her back and grabbed it.

"You could use it to beat big monsters to a pulp!" I exclaimed with a grin.

"I'll like to use it to hit you," Star huffed "I'm sure there's an ulterior motive… I could probably use it for blocking lasers. Like— look out!" she exclaimed, whipping the staff in front of my face. Some of the rock had broken off, exposing me to fire.

Lasers thudded against it, and the gem started to glow.

"You're welcome… I wonder what this means," Star mused.

"Well, wonder later! The rest of the rock is about to break. Split!" I yelled, dashing off to the left.

Star dashed off to the right.

The cubes spilt, two chasing me and one chasing Star.

Along the way, I could feel the handle of my shotgun hitting me in the back of my thigh and came up with a plan. Turning left at the next rock, I got my shotgun out and hid, hoping the cubes hadn't noticed me. They were still walking along looking around for me, and finally, they strayed right next to where I was hiding.

If I could sweat on Lyoko, or where ever I was, the anticipation would have soaked my uniform. The cubes kept moving; unaware I was hidden not 3 feet away from them. Now grabbing an opportunity, I bolted out from my hiding spot, pulled the shotgun up to my shoulder, and pulled the trigger. The shotgun fired, and the intense recoil forced my shoulder back. The blast slammed right into the bulls-eye in the back, making a massive explosion. The other cube, now alert to my presence, rotated until it was face-to-face with me. Not missing a beat, I quickly aimed at the other cube and fired, causing it to explode as well.

"Yes!" I yelled. Star came running up behind me, panting heavily from running.

"Colton! I-I found out… how to… work it," She panted swinging her stick around. A blast came out the gem, nearly hitting me in the head.

"Hey watch it!" I exclaimed. "Well, looks like we got um', huh?"

"I wouldn't say that."

Star pointed at something coming our way.

It looked like a giant steel sphere, with one large line around the middle. Even worse, it was rolling straight for Star and I.

Star stepped forward and swung her staff, causing a green blast of energy to come flying out. The energy blast hit the sphere, but did nothing. It didn't even slow it down! I stepped forward and pumped my shotgun, pointing it at the five-ton behemoth, and fired. The blast hit the steel giant and ricocheted off of it without even putting a dent into it.

"Okay... I think we should run!" I yelled slinging my shotgun over my shoulder.

Star and I began running away as the steel ball chased us, attempting to run us over. After running five-hundred or so feet, we were clear of the rocks, but the steel ball was in close pursuit.

We were still running when Star suddenly let out a cry, her foot catching on a rock. The steel ball was getting closer to her.

"Oh no… Star!" I yelled, starting to run back and help. Then, suddenly, the sphere stopped, and just sat there. Star frowned, beginning to push herself up, until the sphere opened, revealing a whole internal system.

Our eyes widened as the center was charged up with energy, emanating a red aura. It shot out a whole screen of red, and Star gasped, closing her eyes and putting a hand out as if she could stop it.

The screen reached her and just… froze, literally. It had turned blue, and cracked before hitting the ground.

"Star, look what you did!" I yelled.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared in awe at the blue screen and her hand, which had the blue glove on it.

I ran over to her just as the… giant thing opened charged up again.

Star put out her hand, and a blue blast shot into the center, the whole thing enveloping in ice. Then, it exploded in a flurry of snowflakes.

"Wow, that was awesome!" said a voice from behind us.

We both turned around to find… Was it Odd?

"I hate mega-tanks… Hey Star, that was really wicked! Need a hand?" he offered Star a giant, purple paw.

"Uh, oh… o-okay," Star stammered abashedly, grabbing his hand and allowing herself to be pulled up. If you could blush here, Star would be doing it, tenfold.

Then, I noticed two other people. One was Aelita, that was wearing a pink (of course) out fit and had elf ears, and Ulrich, who seemed to be a samurai.

"Okay, so, what do we do now?" I asked elf-Aelita.

"I'll explain later. Right now, we have to deactivate that tower," she responded, pointing to a large, white tower in the distance that was surrounded by a red aura.

"And that means…?"

"I'll have to explain later, just come on!" Aelita exclaimed, darting off in the direction of the tower, Ulrich and Odd following. Star and I had to hurry to avoid being left behind.

As we neared the tower, I noticed some really freaky monsters.

"It looks like we're having seafood today!" Odd exclaimed, priming his laser arrows.

"Seafood…?" Star inquired in confusion.

"It's a bad joke. These are crabs," Ulrich explained.

There were about six 'crabs' in all.

"Guys, why don't you just stay back and watch, for now, and get the feel of your weapons. We'll call you if we need help," Aelita advised, conjuring two pink spheres in each palm before running toward the crabs.

"But-" I protested.

"You heard them. Stay," Star told me, tugging on my arm.

We both watched in awe as Ulrich stuck a sword through the top of one, another exploding in a pink haze a way off.

"Where's Odd?" I asked, noticing he wasn't in the fight.

"There," Star pointed as Odd jumped down from a rock, landing on a crab. He raked his claws over it before jumping away, causing the crab to explode.

There were only three left.

Suddenly, there was a scream from Aelita, and we all looked to where a giant, weird creature with tentacles was backing her against the edge of land.

"No!" Ulrich yelled, starting to run toward it, but was shot and just suddenly… went away.

"Help me!" Aelita cried as she summoned two pink energy spheres (that's what she called them) and threw, but the creature dodged and picked the elf up with its giant, blue tentacles. Her face went expressionless, a red aura surrounding it.

"Aelita!" Odd cried, trying to run over and help, but was stopped by the three crabs.

"What are you doing?" I demanded to Star, who had ran and shot a blue blast at one of the crabs, incasing it in ice.

"I'm helping!"

"But I thought-"

"She called for help, and we're going to help. Now come on!" Star called.

This is more like it," I grinned, holstering my pistol and shooting a round at the big jellyfish-thing. It dropped Aelita and I ran over, offering a hand.

"Hey…" She looked at me before taking my hand.

"I know you said not to, but Ulrich's gone for some reason and you looked like you were in trouble there," I said, pulling her up.

"You've done right. Thank you. Ulrich must have been devirtualized," she said.

"Is that bad?" I asked.

"In a manner of speaking, it is, since he can't help us fight, but he's perfectly fine, back in the real world," Aelita answered.

We darted off into the fray, when a laser hit my ankle, which knocked me down to the floor.

A crab saw its chance and scuttled closer toward me.

I pulled out my pistol, but I was shot in the arm, and dropped it.

I closed my eyes and prepared to get hit, until I heard a thud.

Opening my eyes, I saw a grinning Star, staff in hand. The crab was gone.

"You're right, Colton, this _is _good for smashing monsters," she chuckled, offering me a hand.

I grinned as I took her hand and she helped me up.

"Are you ready to go get those crabs?"

"You know it!"

We both ran over to where Odd and Aelita were fighting the last two crabs.

Odd destroyed one.

We all closed in on the last one, preparing our weapons when two disks came flying out of seemingly nowhere, slicing the crab. It exploded.

Turning, we saw Yumi, nonchalantly leaning against a rock, grabbing the disks out of the air.

"Hey. I hope I'm not too late for the party," she smirked.

"Coming five minutes earlier wouldn't have hurt anyone!" Odd huffed, casually hooking an arm around Star's shoulders.

She smiled bashfully and stared at the ground in response to the motion.

"Hey, guys, is everything okay?" asked Jeremy, distorted voice sounding from above.

"Are you hurt?" Aelita asked, ignoring the question.

"I'm no more hurt than usual," he said briskly. "Is everything okay?"

"It's right as rain!" I exclaimed.

"Great- hold on… Is that Colton?"

"Yep, it's me. Star's here, too!"

"What are you guys doing here?"

"It's a long story," Aelita interrupted. "I'd better go deactivate the tower before any more monsters show up." She ran off, melting into the black part of the tower, coming out shortly after.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked.

"I'll bring you all in," Jeremy answered.

Suddenly Yumi whispered something to Aelita, pointing first to Star, then me. Aelita whispered something back and gave her a thumbs up. Yumi looked a bit impressed.

I looked back to Odd and Star. Odd still had his arm around her shoulder and seemed completely oblivious to Star's reaction, who was smiling dreamily. I bet she was pretty thankful that you couldn't blush here.

"She's on cloud nine," I whispered to Aelita.

"And Odd can't even tell," she grinned back. Finally, Aelita, Odd, and Yumi disappeared. Star and I followed shortly after, and I closed my eyes.

Hearing the doors hiss, I opened my eyes.

Jeremy, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were all standing there.

"I think you've got a bit of explaining to do," I accused wearily, stepping out of the scanner.

"Can it wait until morning?" Star yawned as she stepped out of the cabin next to me, swaying dangerously.

"Whoa there," Odd chuckled, steadying her.

She stood upright and muttered a shy thanks, turning her head away. Even turned away, I could see a hint of blush on her cheeks.

"Star's right. It's 10:47," Jeremy reported. "We should get back to the dorms. We can discuss it over breakfast, okay?"

"Okay," I yawned.

We went down to the sewers, and everyone just carried their vehicles instead since we walked with them.

As soon as I got back to my room, I kicked my shoes off, changed into my pajamas, and promptly flopped on the bed.

"Aren't you going to bed?" I yawned to Jeremy, who was typing on the computer.

"I have some work to do before I go to sleep."

"Jeremy, you need your sleep. Besides, you know that _Aelita _would want you to go to sleep," I smirked.

"What's Aelita got to do with this…?" Jeremy asked, turning around in his chair. The computer light illuminated the bespectacled boy's face, so I could clearly see the large blush on his cheeks.

"She's got everything to do with this," I insisted.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," he mumbled, turning his head back to the computer.

"Come on, the girl cares a lot about you. Think of going to sleep as a way to make her happy," I coaxed.

I knew I had won when Jeremy wordlessly saved his work and shut the monitor off. His blush hadn't tamed in the slightest. If anything, it had gotten worse.

He changed into his pajamas and crawled into bed just as I grinned, turning over.

"Goodnight Mr. Einstein," I said sweetly.

"Be quiet and go to sleep," Jeremy growled at me. I was sure he was still blushing.

I drifted off, still grinning when I fell asleep.

* * *

~Adventurer411:Yay! I finally got my squiggly back...

-Matson:And I got my dashes! *kisses dashes*

~Adventurer411: So, what next?

-Matson: I dunno, it's up to you this round.

~Adventurer411: About time. I'm sure it will include fluff... you know I love fluff!

-Matson:*Glares at Adventurer411*

~Adventurer411:What? You know that too *smiles*

-Matson: Just don't get them killed! *grins*

~Adventurer411:*glares at Matson* I never kill people off in my stories… I don't know the story with you, though.

-Matson: *rolls eyes* Yeah, whatever. Just remember to review!

~Adventurer411:Please review!


	4. Bad Day

I woke up to the sound of Aelita screaming.

"Whoa! Hey- Wait, why are you screaming?" I asked frantically, jerking up in bed and fumbling on the nightstand for my glasses and hastily sliding them on.

I noticed it was still dark as I looked over to Aelita's bed. She was perfectly fine, except I could see her shaking.

"Really, Aelita, could you please not do that? You scared me to death with that scream. "_Why_ were you even screaming?" I asked, frowning in confusion and reaching under my glasses to rub my eyes.

"I… I-I just-" Aelita tried to reply, but suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence, breaking into tears and covering her face and with her hands.

"Hey… Don't cry. What's wrong?" I asked softly, swinging my feet to the floor and walking over to her bed, kneeling down beside it.

Aelita just kept crying.

"Please, Aelita, calm down," I said soothingly, using the same tones I used to calm my younger brother.

After a moment, she started rubbing her eyes. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just h-had a sort of vision..."

"Really? What was it about?"

"There were these... these men in black. They were chasing me, it all seemed so... so real. It was really scary," she said in a quiet voice.

"Aelita, I think you just had a nightmare. My brother gets them sometimes... It'll be okay," I assured her.

Aelita nodded, although she still looked a bit shaken.

"Okay, what's all this racket?"

The door opened, revealing Jim in an undershirt and plain shorts, his hair ruffled from sleep.

"It's Aelita; she had a nightmare, sir," I explained.

"Right... Ms. Chen, what are you doing up?" Jim asked, directing the question at me. (Yes, that _is _my last name, and no, it's not Chinese)

"Well, Jim, she sort of... woke me up."

"Alright, come with me," he grunted.

Aelita swung her feet out of bed and walked started to the door.

I grabbed her hand and walked with her, knowing that she might make use of a friend. She looked at me gratefully, and I nodded in response as we started downstairs.

As we passed Jeremy and Colton's room, the door opened, and Jeremy's head popped out. At first he wasn't wearing glasses, but slid them on in a second. I could hear Colton snoring in the room.

"Aelita...? What is this?" Jeremy asked.

"It's... uh, nothing," she said in a high pitched voice, sounding as if she were close to tears again.

We kept walking, but I let go of Aelita's hand and walked back to Jeremy.

"She had a nightmare," I explained, jaws gaping in a yawn.

''Oh... Is she okay? It looked like she was crying..." I could easily detect the concern laced into his speech.

I couldn't help but smile at this. "Yeah, she's fine, just a bit shaken up... You really care about her, don't you?"

"Of course I do! She's really- I mean..." the young genius trailed off, blushing crimson. He coughed into his fist, averting his eyes. "Just keep an eye on her, okay? Goodnight Star," Jeremy said pointedly, staring at his bare feet.

I had half a mind to ignore the hint and keep teasing him, but decided I wouldn't want anyone teasing me about Odd.

"Goodnight Jeremy."

I grinned meaningfully.

Jeremy ducked his head, trying and failing to hide a blush as he scurried back in the room, closing the door before I could tell him anything else.

Still grinning, I put a hand over my mouth, yawning as I headed back upstairs.

* * *

"So, you guys are going to explain everything, right?" I asked as we headed to meet the others at breakfast. I opened a water bottle.

"That's right," Aelita answered.

Suddenly my foot caught on something and I jerked forward, water bottle slipping out of my grasp as I thudded to the pavement.

I heard Aelita gasp and some snickers.

"Oops, _sorry._"

It was Sissi's voice.

I felt something hit my head, and then there was the uncomfortable feeling of water streaming down my face, hair, and down my back and front.

"Star, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I growled, grabbing the empty water bottle off the ground and pushing myself up.

"I don't know... I think I like the water better in your hair than the green streak," Sissi laughed.

The water bottle crumpled in my grasp, and I wanted nothing more to throw it at her, but didn't as Aelita put a hand on my shoulder.

Sissi and her cronies walked away laughing, and throwing a "I hope you had a nice trip!" over her shoulder, they were gone.

"I really hate her... Why does she even do this?" I demanded angrily.

"I don't know..." Aelita sighed.

"So... how bad is it?" I asked, looking myself up and down.

"Well, uh... You kind of have water on the front of your, um... shorts," Aelita said awkwardly.

"I do?" I groaned, feeling my cheeks burn. I was sure I was blushing pretty badly.

"Yeah..."

"I'm going change," I said, swiftly walking off in the direction of the dorm.

"But you'll miss breakfast!"

"I am _not _going to breakfast or class with a soaked shirt and water on the front of my shorts!" I exclaimed.

_This can't possibly get any worse..._

I passed the boys' dorms, hoping fervently that none would come out before I made it to the stairs. My hopes were dashed.

"Hey Star! What are you doing here?"

It just got worse.

I winced, hearing Odd's voice behind me.

"Uh... What's with the water on your shirt?" he inquired.

"I was carrying an open water bottle, and Sissi tripped me..." I mumbled, turning around and feeling my cheeks get hot.

"That baboon," Odd cursed.

I couldn't help but giggle.

"Yeah, well, I've got to... go change," I spluttered as Odd's gaze traveled to the front of my shorts.

I whipped around, not giving him a chance to answer before darting up the stairs.

_That was close..._

* * *

"I saved you a croissant," Colton said as I hurried into class and slid into a seat next to him.

"Thanks," I said, snatching the croissant in his hand and polishing it off in four rapid bites.

"Well, we're pretty hungry today, aren't we?" Colton smirked.

"Yes," I answered, popping the final bite into my mouth. "So... did they explain all that stuff to you?"

"Nah, they said that it would be better to wait for you so they didn't have to explain twice. Where were you, at breakfast, anyway?"

"Changing my shirt and shorts."

"Why? I know girls are obsessed with clothes and all, but..."

I slapped him. "Sissi tripped me while I was carrying an open water bottle," I explained.

"Seriously, that girl has issues," Colton huffed.

"You're telling me..."

All conversation was silenced as Mrs. Hertz tapped her ruler against the desk, emanating a loud thud. She briefly explained the concept and properties of electricity before handing out a worksheet for us to do.

I finished twenty minutes later, along with Jeremy, Aelita, and some of the smarter students. I idly started doodling Odd's name on the back of the worksheet, not realizing I had drawn a heart around it until I was finished.

"Man, that was hard... Hey, what are you writing?"

"Nothing!" I exclaimed, a mite too quickly as I covered the small heart with my hands, feeling myself blush.

"It can't be nothing if you want to hide it," Colton smirked, and in one fluid motion, pulled the paper out from under my hands and started inspecting it.

Looking down at my lap and feeling what must have been a huge blush on my face, I wanted to turn invisible. "Hey, you're not going to, um..." I coughed into my fist, "tell anyone, huh...?"

"Hm... Okay, okay, I won't tell anyone." He haphazardly flung the paper back in my direction, but it slid off the desk and fell to the floor.

I hastily bent down to pick it up, hoping that nobody had noticed. Of course, with my _awesome _luck today, Jeremy picked it up before me.

_This day keeps on getting better and better..._

"Honestly, Star?" he whispered to me with a raised eyebrow and half a smirk, paper in hand.

"Yes, honestly, now give it back," I growled quietly, feeling the blood rush back to my cheeks as I snatched the paper away from him, furiously erasing the little heart I had made.

"Like you don't draw hearts with Aelita's name in them every once in a while," I hissed.

"I _don't_," Jeremy scoffed, although I could see a hint of blush on his cheeks.

"Chen and Belpois! Do you have anything interesting you want to share with the class?" Mrs. Hertz asked suddenly, narrowing her eyes at us.

"No ma'am," Jeremy and I chorused, sinking lower in our seats.

"If you don't, then keep working and stop chatting," she ordered strictly.

Jeremy and I wisely kept quiet about being finished.

"Nice," Colton snickered.

I stomped on his foot, none too gently.

"This is the worst day _ever,_" I moaned, dropping my head on my desk and wishing I hadn't gotten out of bed this morning.

* * *

"So, let me give a small recap here... You turned on this giant supercomputer, found a virtual world, a virtual girl that you _materialized,_" I pointed to Aelita, "a program that lets you turned back time, and this evil artificial intelligence called Xana that activates towers to gain access to our world and kill us...?" I inquired, knowing I wouldn't have believed any of this if we hadn't been in the virtual world.

We all sat in Jeremy's room as the others explained the whole thing to us.

"That's pretty much the story... Now we fight him," Jeremy said.

"But... If that thing is really this dangerous, then shouldn't you shut it down and call the police or something?" Colton asked.

"We would, but Xana implanted a virus inside of Aelita. If the computer is shut off..."

"I shut off, too," Aelita finished.

"Oh..." Colton said.

"Okay... So now, we're a part of all this, right?" I asked.

"You are. The most important thing to remember, is that you must _never _breathe a word of this to anyone. Is that clear?" Jeremy asked. I could tell by the look on his face that he was very serious.

"I can keep a secret, although I don't know about Colton here..."

"Hey!"

"I'm teasing," I giggled, elbowing him gently in the side.

"I can keep a secret," Colton confirmed.

"Welcome the gang. You guys are now Lyoko warriors!" Odd grinned, as if officiating the moment.

Ulrich rolled his eyes.

"This school year is going to be very... interesting," I whispered to Colton.

"You're telling me..."


	5. Men in Black

**Disclaimer: We don't own anything except for our two OCs (If you don't know who they are then you need help) blah blah and stuff. This disclaimer counts for the rest of the story because I'll probably either forget the others or just won't feel like it...**

**Matson wrote about half of this... I edited that half and wrote the other half.  
**

**Warning: This chapter contains shameless fluffiness about crushes. Read at your own risk...  
**

**POV: Colton**

* * *

It was after class at Kadic, and Star and I were walking to the cafeteria to meet up with the others. It was mostly silent, which was driving me crazy. Star however, seemed perfectly content. I was going to lose my mind.

"So… how long have you liked Odd?" I finally asked.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Star said immediately.

I just stared expectantly after her, ignoring the fake protest, and finally she averted her gaze to the ground, cheeks turning pink.

"Okay… so I've… so I've liked him for a little while, so what…?"

"So, why don't you tell him, then?"

"There's no way I'm doing that, no how!" she exclaimed quickly, head shooting up and blush darkening to red. "Y-You know I couldn't do that. It's not so easy to confess your feelings. I mean; he's Odd!" It all came out in a stammered rush.

"Aw come on, I got a feeling that he likes you back," I urged.

I could see a flare of hope in Star's green eyes.

"Do… Do you really think so?" she asked.

"I'm positive," I assured her. The blond shifted her gaze.

"I don't know..."

"Oh, come on, Star! If you can smack a giant monster with a stick without even flinching, then I know you've got it in you to talk to Odd!" I exclaimed, pushing open the doors to the cafeteria.

"Uh, well, I-I… But what about you?" Star asked, and I could tell she was groping for a subject change.

"What _about_ me?" I asked.

"You know what I mean… Who do you like?" Star asked, giving me a half smile as we got our trays.

"Look, we've only been here two days, and just because you've already flipped over Odd, it doesn't mean I've done the same with someone else," I snorted as we reached the table.

"I'm not dropping this…" She hissed quietly at me, sliding into a seat next to Odd as I sat between Jeremy and Ulrich. Apparently, it wasn't quiet enough.

"Dropping what?" Odd questioned.

"Nothing," Star replied instantly, trying to sound casual. She said it so quick, everyone at the table knew there had to be something going on.

"It's nothing, really? It sure sounds like something," Aelita said.

"And it sounds pretty big," Odd said, leaning so close to Star he was almost pressed up against her.

I could see her swallow nervously and start to blush, sliding down in her chair and looking like a cornered animal. At the rate they were interrogating her, Star would break down in seconds and say something that she would most likely regret.

_I have to redirect the attention before she embarrasses herself, _I realized. _I can't believe I'm doing this…_

"We were talking about the person I like," blurted suddenly. All the attention shifted over to me in a few seconds.

"Well... Who is it?" Aelita asked, smiling widely.

After I didn't answer, Odd prodded and started leaving Star alone. "Who is it?"

"I'm not telling," I said just to draw more attention to myself. I've never seen someone look so grateful as Star did, trying to eat as inconspicuously as possible.

Now the entire table seemed to have just forgotten about Star and began interrogating me.

"If you don't, I'll take your lunch!" Odd threatened.

"I don't need it," I replied, even though I _really_ did want it.

"Well, we're going to get it out of you, one way or another," Jeremy threatened.

"Right... If I tell you, will you tell me about _Aelita_?" I asked, putting a lot of emphasis on 'Aelita'. Jeremy's eye twitched as his cheeks turned bright red, apparently getting at my implication.

"What about me?" Aelita smiled and I could see her grab Jeremy's hand. The interesting part was, he didn't try to move it. His face was so red I thought it would burst into flames.

"Well, we're not going to back off until you tell us," Odd warned.

"And I should care, why?" I asked, folding my arms.

"We're going to find out," Ulrich said in a determined tone.

"No you ain't!"

"Ain't isn't a word," Jeremy and Aelita corrected me in unison.

"Whatever... I'm going to get out of here," I said, standing up and shoving my tray to Odd. I've only been here two days, but I can already tell that he eats more than a full-grown buffalo.

I walked out to the forest and sat under a tree, about a hundred yards from the cafeteria. I sat there in silence for about ten minutes when Star came over.

"Hey, Colton... Thanks for saving me back there. I had no idea what to say... A minute more, and I would have been toast..." She chuckled nervously, staring at the ground.

"Hey don't worry about it, it's what friends are for, right? Besides, no one deserves to be embarrassed in front of their crush."

"Speaking of... Do you really think he likes me?" Star asked seriously.

"Who, Odd? Of course he likes you! Did you _see_ how close he got? Any closer and he would have kissed you. Just go for him, I know you can do it," I encouraged. **(A/N:Fun fact for girls, did you know about 80% of guys **_**like**_** it when girls make the first move? Believe me, I know! -Matson) (A/N: I did not know that... Probably because I'm too young to date- Adventurer411)  
**

"Okay, I... I will! The next time we're alone, I'll tell him," Star said in an excited, but determined tone.

"I can get Jeremy and Ulrich off your back after school, if you'd like," I offered. "I mean, Jeremy won't be too hard. He'll probably be working on something anyway..."

"That would be perfect! Thanks, Colton!" She hugged me, and I smiled.

"Any time," I said, giving her a thumbs up.

Star bolted off to the cafeteria to regroup with the others. I stayed outside and waited for the bell to ring. When there were about ten minutes left, a _really_ cute girl walked over to me.

The girl was outright beautiful. She had medium-long brunette hair tied back into a ponytail. Her glasses were the same as Star's, only they were pitch black with a neon-blue stripe down the legs. Her eyes were an aqua-blue color that shimmered in the sunlight. She had a couple of freckles just under her eyes, and had perfectly straight teeth. She wore a simple loose-fitting pitch black shirt and blue jeans, and around her neck was a black and blue medallion.

"Hi, I'm Rebeca. I'm new to this school and I can't find a spot to sit at. Do you mind if I join you?" She asked, smiling slightly. Her voice, like mine, lacked the French accent everyone else except Star and Yumi had.

"Sure," I replied nonchalantly. "By the way, my name is Colton."

Nodding in acknowledgment, She took a spot about three feet away from me. "So, you're new, huh? Where did you come from?" I asked, knowing fully well that she was from America because of her accent.

"Central America. What about you; you don't sound like you're from around here...?" Rebeca replied.

"I'm not; I'm from Western America. I'm just here because I won a scholarship to attend school here," I answered.

"Really? I got here because my mom has been wanting to live here for a while, and now that we can afford to, we did!" She said, making motions with her hands.

Before we knew it, we were lost in conversation with each other. After about eight more minutes, the bell had rung and we had separated. Rebeca went off to her next class while I met back up with Star and Aelita.

"So, how was lunch?" Aelita asked.

"Eh, you know. Same old stuff," I said, trying to sound casual. Apparently, I failed, or something on my face gave it away, because the two girls started smiling widely.

"What?" I asked. Aelita folded her arms. Star just smiled wider.

_Idiot! Now they're going to interrogate you, _a voice screamed in my head.

"Who did you meet?" Star asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, once again trying to sound nonchalant, but once again, failing.

"We can tell by that faraway look in your eyes that you've met a girl," Aelita smiled.

"Are you going to tell us about her?" Star asked.

"Nope!"

I bolted into class and took my usual seat in the middle row by the window.

_At least class keeps me away from them,_ I thought to myself. Right then, Star sat right next to me and Aelita sat behind me.

_Aw man! This class has selected seating!_ I thought to myself as Star continued to stare at me with that same, wide grin on her face, and I knew Aelita was smiling just as big behind me, too. I began to stand up, hoping to change seats before the bell rang, but when I did, Star grabbed my arm pulled me back into my seat.

"You're not going anywhere," Star whispered loudly to me.

"Great," I mumbled sarcastically. "You are determined not to give me a break, do you?"

"You know that I like Odd, so now you have to tell me about this mystery girl of yours," Star whispered, grinning ear-to-ear.

_This is going to be the longest ninety minutes of my life,_ I thought to myself as class started.

* * *

"And don't forget the principal! Any body plunged into water... uh, what was that...?" Jim mumbled to himself. I sighed in boredom, shivering slightly at the cold bench beneath us. We were at the pool.

"Comes out wet?" Odd suggested with a smile.

"Yes! No.. no, that wasn't it," Jim mumbled again, frowning in confusion. I could hear Star giggle next to me.

"Aren't you cold?" she whispered to me, hugging her knees to her chest. It looked to me that she wished she hadn't worn the two piece.

"Yeah, a little."

Suddenly I heard a gasp, and my head shot up. Aelita was standing by the pool, a hand on her head before falling in.

"Aelita!" Jeremy exclaimed.

All my instincts screamed for me to jump in and help, and I was about to do just that, but Jeremy had already started. I should've known... That boy would jump off of a cliff for her.

We all watched anxiously as he disappeared beneath the water. The blond surfaced a moment later, gasping in air with Aelita in one arm.

Star and I immediately knelt down by the edge of the pool as he swam to the edge. I grabbed Aelita, and with Ulrich's help, started to haul her out, and I could see Star helping Jeremy out.

"Thanks," he gasped. Star nodded as we laid Aelita down on the floor. Her, Jeremy, and I were huddled over her.

"Her pulse is normal," Ulrich announced, two fingers on her wrist. As if in response, the pinkette jerked up and started coughing up a few mouthfuls of water. Then she looked around widely, as if not knowing where she was.

"Calm down... You fell in the pool, but Jeremy saved you," Star said soothingly, smiling.

Understanding lit in Aelita's eyes as she nodded, looking at Jeremy.

"Thank you."

"It's fine Aelita... I just wanted to make sure that you're safe."

* * *

"It was so weird... I saw the men in black again, except it was much more realistic this time," Aelita explained as she sat in bed.

We were all huddled around her.

"You mean, like your nightmare?" Star asked suddenly.

"Yes, it was exactly like that..."

"I don't know, Aelita, the nurse said that you passed out do to the cold. Maybe it was just a nightmare," Jeremy suggested.

Aelita didn't respond, but I could clearly see that she disagreed by the look on her face. The silence was broken by the bell, signaling class in five minutes.

"We have to get to class," Jeremy said as everyone stood and started to file out of the room. "I'll come and see you afterward, okay?"

"Okay, Jeremy. Bye," Aelita smiled and gave a small wave as he closed the door.

* * *

_I don't know how she can write that fast, _I thought incredulously as Star's pencil flew over the test. She looked like she was almost done. Of course, had finished already.

Suddenly my phone buzzed on my desk. Sliding my hand over it, I put the phone to my ear and covered it as best as I could with my hand.

"What?"

"Xana has activated a tower," Jeremy said on the other end.

"Okay, we'll be right there." Groaning internally, I hung up the phone and slid it back onto my desk.

"Star, there's a Xana attack," I breathed.

"Okay," she whispered back. Suddenly she started to cough, and cough, and didn't stop. Then she sneezed and continued her coughing.

"Hey, are you okay...?" I whispered.

"Yep."

"Ma'am, may I please-" Star coughed again. "Go to the... infirmary?" she sneezed.

"Yes, of course."

"I'll bring her," I volunteered.

"Us too," Ulrich and Odd chorused, standing.

"Yes, yes, just go," Mrs. Hertz said. She must have been really immersed in her work, because she just waved us away.

Star kept coughing until she was out the door.

"How did you make yourself sneeze?" Odd questioned as we ran across the courtyard, crossing into the forest.

"I didn't. It was entirely coincidental," Star grinned as we approached the sewers. "It must have been a reaction to the coughing or something."

"Nice," Odd grinned back.

We went down and Odd and Ulrich got on their skateboards, while Star and I ran.

Leaping over the water, we finally approaching the end, panting and doubled over. I went up, then Ulrich, then Odd, who helped Star out. We all went down the ropes and into the elevator to discover Jeremy already waiting.

"Hey guys... I've already virtualized Aelita and Yumi. Head to the scanners."

We were about to do just that when Star spoke up.

"Wait... What about Xana's attack on earth? We can't leave you here alone," she reasoned.

"He hasn't launched and attack on earth yet... Besides, we talked it over, and we think that the visions Aelita has gotten were sent by Xana," Jeremy explained. "You're going to be virtualized in the mountain sector."

We all went down to the scanner room, going in pairs.

"Transfer, Odd, transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Odd, scanner Ulrich. Virtualization," Jeremy began. "Transfer, Star, transfer, Colton. Scanner, Star, scanner, Colton. Virtualization."

* * *

Adventurer411: ah, da fluff.


	6. I Hate Sector Five

**POV: Star**

**Disclaimer: We don't own anything CL except our OCs and their outfits blah blah blah.  
**

Sorry for the late update... School just started for me, and I've been busy getting my act together. Also, there was Jerlita week on deviantart (Not to mention a wild case of writer's block), so I tried to participate as much as I could (albeit not that much) To where we've left off:

* * *

I felt the strange sensation of being materialized before dropping, bending my knees to absorb the force of the impact. I looked around, seeing the others do the same.

"Well?"

It was Yumi's impatient voice. I turned to see her and Aelita already on the overwing. The pink haired girl also looked a tad impatient.

"Taxi!" Odd called.

"Here are your vehicles," Jeremy said just as the overboard and overbike appeared. "There shouldn't be a problem if you guys share. Colton can ride with Ulrich on the overbike, and Star can ride with Odd on the overboard," he explained.

I smiled at the thought of being paired with Odd, and when Colton grinned at me, I had the feeling he could read my thoughts.

Turning away, I looked for the said blond, who was already hopping on the vehicle.

"Please, ladies and gentlemen," Odd started in a business-like voice, waving a paw, "keep your head, arms, and legs inside at all times while the vehicle is in motion. We are not accountable for any injuries or air turbulence, nor the fact that we may be shot down at any time by Xana's monsters. Have a good flight, and thank you for choosing Odd's air."

I couldn't help but giggle as he extended as paw toward me, and I took it timidly and got on behind him, suddenly grateful for the fact that you couldn't blush on Lyoko. I'm sure it wouldn't be the last time. Colton hopped on the overbike, and we sped off.

"Any monsters?" Ulrich called after a few seconds.

"None, so far," Jeremy said back. "Oh, wait... A squadron of hornets followed by a megatank are coming your way."

"I hate those," Odd muttered.

"Which ones? The megatanks or the hornets?" I inquired.

"Both, really. Although megatanks are my least favorite," Odd answered. Suddenly the overboard shot down, and I clutched tightly at Odd's waist. There was a yell of "Impact!" and "Energy field!"

I whipped out my staff, blocking a laser in front of Odd's leg as he shot lasers arrows at the monsters. The gem started glowing, and I prepared to shoot, but a red field suddenly came our way. I put my hand out just in time, and the red hit my blue glove and froze, turning blue and crashing to the ground.

"That's cool," Odd praised as he shot the megatank, causing it to explode.

Suddenly Jeremy's voice sounded overhead.

"Aelita... Aelita, what are you doing?"

I turned to see Aelita standing at the edge of the plateau. "I need to find out where these visions are coming from."

"No, Aelita, it's a trap! Xana sent those visions. Don't go to sector five!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy."

"Aelita, don't! Guys, you have to stop her!"

A big white sphere with a blue Xana symbol came bearing down on her as Odd swerved and we headed toward her.

"Come on, come on," I could hear Odd mutter as we neared. The sphere got closer until it opened and I thought we would miss it, but we flew straight into the opening.

Suddenly we were in a big, blue, spinning room, the overboard was gone, and I felt queasy.

"Ugh," I said, putting a hand on my stomach. "What is this? And why do I feel sick?"

"I don't know," said Odd next to me. He had a hand on his stomach too. "I always feel sick in the transporter..."

"That makes sense," Aelita smiled.

Suddenly the room stopped spinning.

"What's going to happen?" I inquired.

"The wall is going to open. Just follow us," Odd said, and sure enough, a big crack opened in the wall.

Aelita ran forward, Odd followed, and I hurried to keep up. We ran down a big blue corridor, and came to stop at a huge room. The floor was flat, the ceiling was pretty high up, and there was some sort of... circle thing at the end of the room, very high up. There was a door by the circle.

"I think I remember what we're supposed to do," I said as I walked forward into the room. "The circle is a key, right? We have to hit it...?"

"No, wait!" Odd exclaimed as I kept walking.

"What?" I turned to face him, and suddenly got tackled. There was a thud, and a huge blue column smashed down to the floor right where I was a second ago.

"Whoa..."

"This room isn't built simple," Aelita said as Odd helped me up. "It's designed to be as difficult as possible."

As if in response to the statement, the floor started rising and falling.

"The countdown has started," came Jeremy's voice, "you guys have three minutes to trip the key."

Odd and I fell to our knees at the sudden acceleration, and Aelita gasped. She had not entered the room yet, but the syphozoa was approaching her.

"You get the key, I'll get Aelita," Odd said.

"I'll try!"

We both turned around and jumped off the block and onto another, a huge column crushing where we had been a moment before.

My knees buckled as the column I was on accelerated upwards. I looked up, and of course, another blue column was rushing down to greet me. I pushed off and slapped painfully against the side of another rising column, barely managing to hold on. I pushed myself up and manage to crawl onto the ledge. The key was a only about ten yards away.

I stood, only to be knocked down by a laser.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I yelled as I blindly put my staff up in attempt to block the lasers. I got a glimpse of the ugly monster before I shot and it exploded. "As if moving floors and crushing columns weren't enough... monsters, too, now?" I muttered under my breath.

"There's only one minute left!" Jeremy warned.

Another laser hit me in the back and I fell to my knees, putting out my blue glove.

"You have thirty life points," Jeremy warned me. I missed the shot and rolled away to avoid a laser blast. Then I shot with my glove again, and the monster exploded in a flurry of white.

"Thirty seconds left!"

I ran and landed on the other ledge. Having to wait a moment, I timed my jump so the next column would be lower. This was gradually getting easier.

"Twenty seconds!"

The key was so close... If I leaned forward with my staff, maybe I could-

"Ten seconds, nine..."

I took a chance and jumped to the next column, but my timing was off and I was only able to grab the edge.

"Eight, seven seconds left!"

The key was right above me. If the column would just bring me up, I could reach out, and...

"How many seconds now, Jeremy?" There was no answer as the column brought me closer.

"Jeremy?"

It got closer, and I stretched my hand up and managed to hit the key. It sank inward, and the floor stopped moving just as I lost my grip. I gasped and closed my eyes, but then there was a firm grip on my wrist.

"I got you. And I thought I was the only one that gets stuck on ledges sometimes!"

I opened my eyes and looked up to see Odd's grinning face.

"Odd! Is Aelita okay?"

"I don't think you're in any position to be asking _someone else _that," Aelita pointed out, smiling face appearing behind Odd.

He hauled me up.

"Odd?" I started.

"Yeah?"

"I officially hate sector five."

"I don't like it much, either."

We ran off.

"I wonder how Yumi-" I was cut off by a laser, which had apparently decided to end my life on Lyoko.

"Now I _really _hate sector five," I muttered as I appeared in a scanner on the floor. I heard screaming.

_I wonder what Jeremy's gotten himself into now, _I thought. I climbed up the ladder and had to hold in a scream.

Jeremy was sagged against the wall with his hands in front of his face, screaming loudly. He wasn't wearing glasses, and his hair was all ruffled. (Probably the result of electrocution)

There was what must have been a Jeremy... clone, or something, standing in front of him. His hair was all spiked and was charged with electricity, and so were his hands. I picked up a nearby pipe, and slammed it down on the clone's head as hard as I could.

Electricity charged up the pipe, and went through my arms and body. I fell to the ground, vision flickering. So much for helping him.

The clone stopped the electricity for a moment, and smoothed down his hair. Then he continued, hair just spiking up again.

_Seriously?_

I tried to throw a punch, but the clone grabbed it and threw me across the room, and I slammed against the wall. My vision started swimming as I fell to the floor.

_My hair must look terrible now..._

Where did that come from? I was just electrocuted, thrown against a wall, and now I'm worried about my _hair?_

Then all thoughts fled and the last thing I heard was a scream before I went unconscious.

* * *

"Hey, wake up," came a voice. Who was it? Why was it disturbing me?

"Star, wake up," came the voice again. I didn't want to wake up. I was so comfortable...

"Wake up!" This time it was more commanding. Now that I thought about it, the voice sounded familiar... And I wasn't all that comfortable_. _There was a throbbing in my head, and my back was so sore... There was a cold metal floor bellow me.

"Come on, sleepy head!" Who's voice was it...?

"STAR, ODD FELL IN LOVE WITH AELITA!"

Oh no; he did?

My eyes flew open and I jerked upward. Colton was grinning at me.

"Well, _that_ got you up pretty quickly," he laughed.

"Oh, shut up," I growled, punching his shoulder. I could feel myself blushing. "Anyway, what happened?"

"Everything's fine. The tower is deactivated," Odd said. I blushed again, hoping he hadn't hear what Colton said. If he did, he didn't show it.

"Colton had gotten devirtualized and found you and Jeremy unconscious, but whoever did it was gone, because Aelita deactivated the tower," the blond explained.

"Oh, good," I said as I attempted to stand. I felt dizzy and leaned against the wall for support. "Is Jeremy okay?"

"Other than a few burns, I'm fine," Jeremy said suddenly, walking up to me with a smile. "You think we should launch a return to the past?"

"Well," Yumi broke in, "it didn't affect anyone else, so I say we shouldn't."

"I agree," Aelita said.

"Does anyone object?" Jeremy asked. No one said anything.

"Alright then."

We walked back to Kadic without launching a return to the past, and another victory was chalked up to the board.

* * *

Adventurer411: Has anyone tried applesauce from a squeezable pack? Don't, if it has any banana in it... blech :P

Matson: Don't forget to review.

Adventurer411: ZzZ... too sleepy to review :P


	7. Showers and Specters

**Wow, she's alive? I know, I haven't updated any of my fics in forever. This might be a lame excuse, but I've been working on my novel... You can see the first few chapters of it on my account at Fictionpress under the same pen name. I'd really appreciate a critical eye going over it and telling me how it could be improved...  
**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, Matson and I are not and/or part of moonscoop, taffy kids, and any other smaller companies that might own it. Sucks, doesn't it? **

**And whoever anonymously sent the review and is still reading: Yumi is in here, she's just not in here very often... :P **

**To other reviewers: Thank you. Every one brightens our day (Sounding too cheesy? I think so) Anyways, I've kept you long enough.  
**

**Star's POV:  
**

* * *

"Wake up," I said, gently shaking Aelita's shoulder.

"Mph…" she responded.

"It is time to wake- oh hey, Jeremy."

Aelita blinked and shot up, looking widely around the room while I struggled to stifle giggles. After she noticed me, the pinkette scowled.

"That's a bad joke."

"Well, I thought it was funny." For my efforts, I received a pillow to the face. I childishly stuck my tongue out at her and grabbed my small shower bag, walking out of the room. I just left the door frame as I heard a yell.

"LOOK OUT!"

I whipped my head around to see an unusual scene. Kiwi was quickly approaching me, carrying something in his mouth, and Ulrich and Odd were close in pursuit, both in pajamas. I didn't know whether to laugh or gasp.

"Grab him!" Odd exclaimed.

I blinked and quickly bent down to do as told, but the sneaky mutt dashed right between my legs. Odd and Ulrich ran past and before I knew it, I was sprawled on the floor.

I looked at my feet. "Stupid socks," I muttered, pushing myself up. Aelita blinked at me from inside the room.

"Was that Kiwi?"

"It was," I answered.

"Why were Ulrich and Odd chasing him?" she asked. I called up the memory of the cloth in Kiwi's mouth.

"I think… I think he had underwear in his mouth…"

Aelita's answer was cut off with Odd's shout of: "KIWI, PUT THAT DOWN! You don't know where it's been!"

I giggled, and soon Kiwi appeared and skidded to a stop in front of me, dropping the underwear at my feet. He wagged his tail and looked back and forth between me and the boxers expectantly, tongue lolling. I scrunched up my face in disgust, pointing to the green cloth.

"I am _not _touching those. Maybe Aelita will play fetch the boxers."

"I will not!" Aelita's voice sounded from inside the room. Smiling apologetically at the dog and stifling giggles, I shrugged as Odd and Ulrich pounded around the corner. They came to a stop in front of me, panting and doubled over.

Red faced, Ulrich bent down and snatched the boxers from the floor. "Odd, you need to tell your dumb dog to stop stealing my underwear," he huffed, turning around and walking away.

"I've told him... I guess he just thinks it's fun," Odd laughed as he walked over to me. He smiled at me- the smile reserved only for me, full of kindness, compassion, and hopefully... love. Though mentally chiding myself for acting like a swooning schoolgirl (Which, I guess, wasn't too far from), I felt my insides flutter happily.

"Morning!" he said cheerfully, "I hope yours has started off better than mine!"

"Morning to you too... Kiwi seemed to be having a lot of fun," I said, absentmindedly tugging at a piece of string that had come from my top; It was one of my oldest pajama tops. In one fluid movement, I yanked it out and twirled it around my finger. Odd stared at it for a moment before looking back over to me.

"I bet he was," the blond finally agreed, scratching the back of his head. I stared into his eyes, hypnotized by the gaze. He has such vibrant eyes...

I unintentionally sighed. Odd gave me a small, bashful smile and I blushed in return as we kept staring at each other. Then I tore my gaze away and averted it to the ground. I wasn't completely sure, but I think Odd was doing the same to the wall. Feeling a blush heat my cheeks as I looked back up at the blond, I saw him flush as well. This display might have went on for a while if Aelita had not intervened.

She tugged on my arm. "Come on. If you don't hurry, you'll be out of hot water," the pinkette said pointedly. "That includes you too, Odd."

"Right," he said distractedly, still staring at me. He flashed an uncertain smile before a peck on the cheek.

"I'll... I'll see you later," he stepped back, blushing before turning around and walking away. I felt my insides flutter happily once again and smiled, obediently walking down the hall with Aelita.

_Ah, this is great... I hope I get to spend more time with him. _

I glanced briefly at Aelita and saw a knowing smile.

"Please... don't... don't smile at me like that," I blushed, turning to look at the wall. She let out a small chuckle.

"Like what?"

"I don't know... just don't look at me like that!" I exclaimed, trying to brush back the hair in my face.

"Okay, okay," Aelita said. "But I really think you should go for it," she smiled, tilting her head.

"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing full well.

"You know... Ask him out to the movies, or something," she responded, giving me a bright grin.

"I don't know," I said, turning my head away. I stared at the wall again.

"Come on... you've liked him for... what, over a week now?" Aelita guessed correctly. "You've even told him, but still have yet to ask him out," she said as we turned the corner and pushed open the bathroom doors. No one was at the sinks, and from the bags, there weren't more than two girls in the shower. Ah, sometimes getting up early has its perks.

"Look who's talking," I snorted, attempting to cover up my embarrassment.

"What are you talking about?" she asked as we went to the sinks and started brushing our teeth.

"You're smart," I said, "I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

"I don't," Aelita replied, blinking at herself in the mirror. She tried to flatten her unruly hair.

_Unruly yourself, _A small voice in my head stated. I almost giggled as I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was frizzed everywhere, and all in my face- more than usual.

I shook my head, remembering that Aelita was still waiting for my answer. "Shyou know, sheremy," I said, words slurred by my toothbrush.

"What?" Aelita asked in a completely confused tone. With an exasperated sigh I spit into the sink, wiping my mouth on my sleeve.

"I'm talking about Jeremy, you know?" I asked with a smile. I felt a small tingle of satisfaction as Aelita blushed, wordlessly rinsing her toothbrush.

"What about Jeremy? Why would you talk about Jeremy? Weren't we talking about Odd?" the pinkette asked in a rush, nervously digging in her shower bag. She fumbled with her shampoo and the whole bag fell on the floor. Her blush got bigger as she scrambled to pick all of it up, standing with it before I could even bend down to help.

_It's sort of amusing, the way she gets all flustered when I mention Jeremy. I wonder if he'll do the same when I mention her... Probably. But, I can't really say that though, since I sort of do the same when Odd is mentioned...  
_

Leaning over the sink so Aelita wouldn't see me blushing, I rinsed my toothbrush as she scurried off to take a shower, probably too relieved I didn't push her about Jeremy to pay attention to what I was doing.

_Aelita's right, you know, _the same small voice in my head chirped.

_About what? _I asked back, staring at myself in the mirror.

_About wh- about food... _the voice replied sarcastically. _Duh, about Odd!  
_

_Okay, Jeez... Who are you telling me this, anyways?  
_

_Ever heard of a conscience?_

_I thought consciences are supposed to tell you right and wrong, not butt in on your love life, _I responded.

_They also tell you right and wrong about your love life. And I'm telling you now, what's right: you need to swallow your nervousness right up and ask Odd out. _

_It's not so easy, _I huffed back, brushing back my hair out of habit for it to only fall back in my eyes. As I continued battling with myself mentally, Emily came out of the showers in her bathrobe and walked out the door, Azra following a short while later. I shook my head, realizing I had to take a shower soon before other girls came. Snagging my bathrobe and shower kit, I passed Aelita on the way in.

"You're just coming to take a shower?" she asked, looking at me in surprise. "What have you been doing all this time?"

"Hating my correct conscience."

"Ah... What?" she asked, sounding confused. I shook my head and went to one of the showers. I quickly disrobed and set my clothes and glasses on the bench near the showers.

The water hissed around me as a light steam rose up, and I sighed with pleasure.

A warm shower really relaxes a person in the morning.

For the next minute or so, the only noise was the sound of water rushing from the shower. Just as I rinsed out the shampoo, an annoying buzzing noise broke into my thoughts. With an irritated huff, I stepped out of the shower and pulled on my robe (Lime green, of course. Did I mention that I like lime green just about as much as Aelita likes pink?), first drying my hands before I grabbed my glasses and fit them on my face, having to push back my soaked hair. Then I grabbed my cellphone, using the same hand to push back my hair and put the phone to my damp ear. Pressing the little green phone on my cell that signaled an acceptance for a call, I leaned against the tile.

"Hello?" I allowed a small bit of the irritation I felt to seep into my tone.

"Hey, Star?" it was Jeremy's voice.

"What's up? I'm kinda busy." I shifted impatiently, feeling water stream down my legs and pool around my bare feet. Though the room was steamy, I shivered and felt eager to get under the warm stream.

"Well, I hope it's not too important, because Xana has activated a tower," Jeremy answered in his usual time-to-save-the-world-again voice. I felt more of my irritation bubble up, pricking at my skin.

"You've _got _to be kidding," I said, staring at the rushing water longingly as if it would change the fact that I wouldn't get a shower.

"Sadly, no. We need you at the factory, ASAP. The others are already on their way."

"Come on," I moaned, walking over to turn off the shower, and sighing at the prospect of being unable to return to the warmth. "I was in the middle of a shower."

"You took your phone in the shower?" Jeremy asked in confusion.

"Yes," I replied in a voice that dripped sarcasm, swiping my washing products into my bag and closing it. "I talked in the shower and got my cell all wet because I _want _it broken."

"No need for sarcasm," Jeremy said in an unfazed voice.

_You'd feel the need if you were interrupted from a hot shower yourself, _I almost said, but with some difficulty, bit my words back. "Yeah, okay. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Don't drag your feet," Jeremy said before hanging up. Shoving my cellphone in my bag, I dried off as fast as I could and put my slightly damp robe over my pajamas. I winced, feeling my top stick to my still damp back.

Clothes sticking to me if I haven't dried off well- that makes my top ten list of things that totally irritate me, right up there with Sissi and being interrupted from a hot shower by a Xana attack (which was added a few minutes ago)

"Oh my gosh; eww! There's something coming out of the faucet!" I could hear the girl on my irritation list shriek. I decided to bump her up a number.

I hurried out of the shower room to see a black substance sliding out of the faucet. Sissi stared at it with a mixture of fear and disgust, while the few other girls looked at it in surprise. A pit formed in my stomach; I knew that blackness all too well.

As the rest of it slithered out and started to take shape, the girls backed away, most of them screaming. I had the presence of mind to call one of the others' numbers as I looked around the bathroom for something that could possibly be used as a weapon.

The phone picked up on the third ring, the person I called happening to be Colton.

"Hey Star. Jeremy just called you, huh? Are you coming?"

"I would," I answered, finding nothing in the room of use and now trying to figure out how I could possibly maneuver behind him and get a blow in. "If a specter wasn't attacking girls in the bathroom."

"Spect- what?"

"Ah, no time to talk!" I exclaimed as the specter, which had taken the form of an unfamiliar man, advanced on the scared group of girls. "Tell the others that I might not be able to join the party today," I said before hanging up the phone and cutting off Colton's voice. I set the phone on the bench where most of the bags where, and tried to walk over to where the specter was, but stopped short.

He-it...whatever, had corned the girls and wasn't facing me. The trouble was that he was facing the mirror. I couldn't sneak up on him unless I was invisible.

_Or, unless you were under the mirror..._

My lips curled up slightly as I bent down, as if running a race.

_On your mark, get set... _I put my both of my hands to the ground to steady myself and tensed up my right leg, which was behind me._ Go!_

My mind went on autopilot as I sprung off, running low to the ground. The specter turned around as he saw some of my hair in the mirror, but by that time, I had already dove toward him, crashing into his legs.

He toppled to the ground, partly on top of me. After a short struggle I managed to get myself on top of him. Shivering, I stared into the black pupils, full of hatred and maliciousness. They were unmerciful, glaring eyes- the eyes of a killer.

Then they flashed and turned to the Xana symbol before I felt a surge of electricity bolt through me. I shuddered, slumping onto him just as the other girls screamed. Growling, the specter roughly pushed me off of him and stood.

"Get away from me!" Sissi screamed. This only gave the specter incentive to approach her. Staggering slightly, I pushed myself up and swung my bare foot in an arc, remembering the move that Yumi had taught me. I felt my foot connect with soft skin of his neck and emanate a small thud, slamming him into the sinks. I had bought myself a few seconds at most.

"You guys need to get out of here!" I hissed urgently to the other girls, making motions with my hands. They didn't need telling twice. All but Sissi hurried out the door, who was apparently paralyzed with fear.

"Move!" I hissed again, gently shoving her. She didn't move, but I felt a firm hand grab the back of my collar and whip me around. Before I knew it, I was face to face with the specter, who didn't seem very happy.

"Ah... you might want to get that looked at," I gulped, pointing to the red mark my foot had left on his neck. He growled, his other hand thrusting out to my neck as he released my collar. I gasped (or tried to, rather) at the ironclad grip, grabbing his wrist and struggling in vain to free myself. An electric bolt shot through me, not helping the situation at all. The pressure only increased on my throat as spots danced in my eyes. I was starting to feel light-headed.

As my fingers scrabbled on the sink, I felt them close around something smooth and... mushy. Flipping open the cap, I put the toothpaste out and squeezed tightly, nailing him right in the eye. He howled with pain and loosened his grip, the toothpaste slipping from my hand. I slammed my fist down on his wrist and fell to the floor, gasping in air with a hand around my throat. My vision slowly cleared as I coughed, hoping no blood would come up.

Then the specter grabbed me firmly, hissing. Again, with the neck. Is that something all super villains have to do? Strangle their victims? Apparently, this was how the evil AI operated.

I stared back into his malicious eyes- one was now reddening and twitching with a slight foam gathering around the corner, thanks to the toothpaste.

"Toothpaste goes in your mouth," I corrected hoarsely, "not in your eye. If you get it in your eye, you should rinse it repeatedly with warm water and see a doctor if it still-"

For my ill attempt at humor, I was thrown across the room, trying to scream but unable to do more than whimper.

"What are you doing?" Sissi shrieked.

I slammed into the wooden shower door with a crack (I hope it was the door that made the crack) and felt numbness all along my left side before it flared into agony. Not having the strength to do much more, I moaned as blackness clouded my vision. A bolt of pain shot through my left arm as I attempted to push myself up, trying not to slip into unconsciousness.

"Look out!" it was Sissi shrieking, again. Man, I just wish that she would be quiet. I had even opened my mouth just to tell her when a shadow fell across the tile, causing me to look up. Uh oh.

The specter glared at me, charging his palm with electricity (not to mention, his hair). I sucked in a quick breath.

Cringing and shutting my eyes, I tensed, waiting for the painful bolt of electricity that was sure to come. I was surprised when it didn't.

* * *

Ah... Sorry. I'm not too good at describing action in first-person view.

I am sad. Along with a lot of others, I barely have time to update in between school and sports. You know the sad part? I'm not even in high school yet :( The thought that it only gets worse saddens me greatly. Moan.


	8. Toothpaste and Rumbling Bridges

Yes, I've finally updated. Don't look at me like that. I'm not dead, you know.

* * *

**Colton's POV**

"Ah, can't talk now. Bye!"

Then she hung up. I stared at the phone for a moment, pondering my options.

"You coming, or what?"

I looked down, finding Jeremy and the others staring up at me from by the ropes.

"Are you coming?" Jeremy repeated.

"We're on a time limit to save the world, you know!" Odd yelled up at me, impatiently tapping Jeremy's watch since he didn't have one on.

"I think Star needs help," I called back down to them, putting the phone back in my pocket. "She said that there was a specter in the girls' bathroom."

I could see Odd's expression change at that.

"Is she okay?" he called up.

"That's just it! I don't know. I'm going to go help her, okay?" I asked, not waiting for a response as I turned around and ran toward the sewers, descending the ladder quickly and feeling thankful I had gotten a skateboard. The wind blew my hair back as I picked up speed, jumping over the water and skidding around turns. The trip seemed to take longer than usual as I jumped off of the board, setting it next to Star's roller skates, which looked untouched. After I finally got out of the sewers, I bolted through the forest, jumping over rocks, roots, small bushes, and ducking under branches and around trees.

By the time I reached the dorms, my breath was coming in ragged gasps and I could feel my heart pounding. Doubled over, I panted for about thirty seconds before going down the hall and pressing my ear to the bathroom door. For a few seconds, the only sound I could hear was my own panting. Then there was a scream, and a loud thud. I pushed open the doors and saw Sissi, wide eyed with terror and pointing to the far wall. Her mouth opened and closed soundlessly, like a fish. It would have been comical if we weren't in the middle of a Xana attack.

Then I followed her gaze to Star, who was slumped against the wall. A man stood towering above her, hair spiked with electricity and palms crackling. I didn't waste any time.

Running across the floor, I jumped and tackled the guy. Man, it was like slamming into a wall. It took all my willpower not to cry out with pain as we both fell to the floor. I pinned him, then he quickly slammed me down and pinned me.

I winced as his hands pushed hard on my shoulders, most likely leaving marks.

"Toothpaste!"

For a moment, both of us stopped, turning our heads to where the voice had come from. It was Star, who was staggering upward and leaning heavily against the door.

"Use the toothpaste, Colton!" she urged.

That cuts it. She's lost her marbles.

Confusion rushing through me, I kicked him off and looked at Star with wide eyes. "Are you nuts? I don't think this guy is worried about dental hygiene!" I yelled at her, jumping to my feet. She rolled her eyes. It seems as if she's doing that often to me, nowadays. But, seriously: toothpaste?

"No, not put it on a toothbrush. Squirt it in his eye!"

"Wha—" I was cut off as the man grabbed the front of my shirt, slamming me into the wall. I let out a weak grunt as a dull but strong pain blossomed in my chest.

"Grab the toothpaste and squirt it in his eye! Squirt it in his eye!" Star yelled again.

Understanding crashed into me (But it didn't hurt nearly as much as my chest did from the stupid specter). I looked around widely, breathing raggedly as specter pushed harder. I saw a tube of toothpaste on the floor. If only I could reach it…

"Hey, over here!" Star yelled. A shirt obscured the specter's face, and I used that moment to bring my foot up fast, kicking him where nobody should be kicked.

He sprung back, more of surprise than pain. I fell to the floor gasping, snatching the toothpaste and spinning around with it open.

"I've got a loaded… er… weapon, and I'm not afraid to use it!" I yelled hoarsely, flipping open the cap and aiming it at him. A green robe hit him in the face next. I stood and shoved the shirt under his feet. Soon, he was just sprawled on the floor and tangled up in a shirt and robe. I couldn't help snickering at the picture.

Before I knew it, Star was at my side. She used the belt from the robe to tie his thrashing feet.

"Nice," I said with a grin as she straightened. A smile creased her face at the compliment, but she shook her head.

"This is only cloth. It won't hold him for long."

My grin dampened. "Yeah, you're right. You'd better get to the factory."

"What about you?" Star asked, looking at the specter. It was starting to throw off the clothes.

"I'll be fine. It's important that Aelita deactivates the tower," I said, making shooing motions with my hands.

She hesitantly glanced at the specter, then at me.

"Hurry!" I urged, forcing reassurance into my tone.

Star slowly nodded. She turned and ran to the door. Of course, that's when it had to fly open and hit her in the face.

I winced as I heard a dull thud. Star was knocked to the floor with a yelp, hands going to her nose.

"What _is_ all this racket?" Jim's voice boomed as he walked in, either completely ignoring Star on the floor or just having impossibly missed her.

"Um, I'm kind of busy," I said, eying the thrashing specter. His arms and legs were free now.

"Matson!" His eyes narrowed. "This is the girls' bathroom. What are you doing in here?"

I rocked on my heels as he walked closer, half eying him and half eying the specter. "You know, this really isn't a good time right now. I'll be happy to answer you later, okay?" I offered to Jim.

"Listen Matson, if you don't- wait, what is that?" Jim's angry expression turned confused as he looked at the thrashing specter on the floor. Wow, I'm surprised it's still holding. Star must have done something to that robe.

"Look, how about you leave for right now," I suggested, "and then you can come back later, okay? Thanks."

"Colton," Star gasped, doubled over with her hands over her nose. Oh no; is her nose bleeding? By the color on her hands, it looks like it.

"L... Look out!"

I turned around in time to receive a full blow to the chest.

I gasped, flying across the room and hitting the wall. A burst of pain exploded in my head as I slid to the floor. Why is the room spinning all of a sudden?

"Oh, that hurts," I said deliriously, looking up at the blurry room. I heard yelling that sounded like Jim's and a blond head appeared over me.

"Odd?" I questioned, my own voice sounding weird. There was a sort of pounding in my ears.

"Id's Star," the head answered, voice slightly messed up.

Blinking again, I noticed she had a hand over her nose. Was that red on her hand? Did she spill jelly or something? I giggled slightly. Why would Star have jelly? Jelly went with toast and biscuits, and those were served during breakfast. It wasn't even breakfast time... Wait, _was_ it?

"Are you okay?" Star asked, bending over to get closer. Yep, there was definitely red on her hand.

"Have you been eating jelly?" I wondered, vision blurring, then clearing for a minute as I blinked.

Star frowned at me. "Has your brain turned to mush?"

"Mush," I mumbled. "Peanut butter kind of looks like mush." My vision got blurry as a dull ache pounded in my head. "Actually, peanut butter is more like sticky stuff. That jelly you got is probably mushy. You know what's also mushy? Toothpaste."

"Wow, did you hid your head thad hard?"

Why did Star's voice sound so weird? It was like she was far away. Cool! She'd have to teach me that trick sometime.

"Are you okay...? Okay...?"

Her voice blended together and the last thing I heard was something about slapping some sense into me before all feeling faded.

* * *

Bump. Bump. Bump.

I thumped against something soft and slightly wet. I was off the ground, but otherwise, I had no idea where I was.

_Oh, my head... _I thought, feeling a throb.

The thumping wasn't helping. I let out a small moan; everything hurt.

"Are you awake?"

It was Star's voice... at least, I'm pretty sure it was. I forced open my eyes and found myself staring at a blurry collage of green, blue, and grey. Then everything came rushing back.

"Yeah, I'm awake," I mumbled, blinking to try and clear my vision. "Where's... the specter?"

"Ulrich ad Yumi are takig care of id. Right dow, we're needed on Lyoko," Star explained in am odd voice as I felt myself go up slightly. "That is, if you can walk... You're heavy, you know that?"

At that moment, I realized that I was riding on Star's back. Her hair was still wet, and she was dressed in her pajamas. At least, that's what I thought. My vision was still blurry.

"Where's my-"

"Here," Star interrupted, raising her hand to push something into mine-my glasses. I slid them on clumsily and noticed that we were approaching the factory.

"Let me down," I muttered, feeling dizzy. "I can walk."

"No way," Star panted as she kept running.

"Let me down," I repeated. "You can't carry me forever, you know. Put me down."

"No."

"Yes," I insisted, pushing on her shoulder slightly. "You're going to exhaust yourself if you don't put me down."

Star huffed and stopped running, swaying slightly as she tried to keep her balance. "Okay, fine, but only because we're getting to the ropes. My side still hurts; I can't bring down both of us." She removed her arms from under me and I slid down, my knees buckling as soon as my feet hit the floor. Star turned around quickly and grabbed me before I face planted onto the cement. I could see her grimace with what was most likely pain as she grabbed her side with one hand.

"Thanks," I said, feeling lightheaded as I struggled to my feet. "Are you okay?"

"Just fine," Star grunted, hand on her side. "Come on, let's go."

I glanced at her, then sighed and started off across the bridge at a slow jog, clenching my fists to keep balance. Star followed more slowly. As I jogged, I could feel my footsteps sinking slightly in the cement- wait, in the _cement_? Something was wrong. I skidded to a stop, feeling my heels dig into the cement.

Star suddenly slammed into me from behind and we both went toppling to the ground.

"Sorry," she grunted, rolling off of me. "You stopped too quickly."

I put a hand to the side of my head. The throb had returned. "This doesn't feel right." I made a fist, put it on top of the cement, then pressed as hard as I could. My fist sank into it slightly, as if the bridge were hard clay.

Star watched in surprised and started to do the same when the bride started to shudder.

Eyes widening, Star spread her hands out on either side of her in surprise, as if to balance herself. The bridge groaned and shook.

Trying to ignore the dizziness, I jumped up and spread my arms slightly for balance. "We need to get off the bridge," I said. I didn't know what was happening, but I was pretty sure it was something bad. If it was bad, we needed to get off, pronto. How long had this bridge been here, anyway? How many times had it survived assaults from Xana? It was bound to break soon.

"Come on," I said, not giving Star a chance to reply as I stuck out my hand. She grabbed it and I quickly pulled her up as a web of cracks appeared beneath our feet. After making sure she was on her feet, I ran toward the ropes. More cracks appeared at my feet as I ran.

Wheezing, I forced myself to go faster. We had to make it to the other side. The bridge moaned in protest and it shook so much I had trouble keeping my balance. After what seemed like forever, I finally stumbled to the entry of the factory and off of the bridge. Gasping, I turned around to watch the bridge crumble. I almost choked as I realized that Star was still on it. She was holding her side with one arm and had locked the other around the rail of the bridge.

Is she nuts? Seriously, I think the specter hit her one too many times.

"What are you doing?" I forced out in a yell, spreading my legs for balance.

"It's… moving too much," Star yelled back over the rumble, lifting her head. "I can't… can't balance!"

I stepped forward, intending to help her over, but the bridge shook and I instead tumbled onto the cement with a grunt. Below me, I could feel the cement caving away, so I quickly crawled backwards.

"Well, you can't stay on there!" I said.

Star tried to walk forward, but like me, stumbled and barely managed to remain upright.

Suddenly, a loud crack sounded over the rumbling. Actually, it was a lot of cracks. This isn't good…

The web of cracks into the bridge started to open as pieces of the bridge collapsed, huge pieces of debris splashing into the water.

I'm not exactly sure why Star waited until now to start moving, but she stumbled forward awkwardly in a desperate attempt to make it to this side. The bride was crumbling too fast for her.

I stretched over the bridge as far as I could without actually getting on and stuck my hand out, but a fat lot of good that did us. The section under Star caved and she jumped, trying to reach my hand.

I felt her fingers brush mine, but we weren't close enough to get a grip. I let out a howl of frustration as I felt her fingers slip away.

Screaming loud enough to break glass, Star free-fell through the air before landing in the dark water with a splash.

* * *

**Star's POV**

I was terrified.

Okay, I know what you're thinking: just fell into the water, which isn't a big deal if you can swim, right? Right; I do know how to swim, and it's not too difficult. Just hold your breath on the way down and you'll be fine. Splash into the water, swim back up, and then get some air.

Ha. I wish that were the case. It's one thing to fall or jump off of a bridge and harmlessly land in the water with a splash, but it's a different thing entirely when that bridge is collapsing, with pieces of it falling into the water- or on your head. It's much more dangerous, for one thing. So, as the bridge fell from underneath me, I couldn't help but scream my lungs out, even though I probably should've conserved my air.

The icy water was a shock to my body. For a moment, I floated beneath the surface, frozen. Then I realized that staying still probably wasn't the best choice, so I quickly swam deeper. No, I'm not crazy. If I go up and a piece hits me on the head, then I sink down and down... Nope, I don't want that.

Feeling my lungs tighten, I opened my eyes to a blurry murk. All around me were dark, shapeless forms. More were splashing down, and I'll say it again: I was terrified that one would hit me.

By now, I felt dizzy. I tried weave between the giant pieces of debris to get to the surface, but through my watery vision, I saw piece of the bridge falling toward me. Jerking desperately to the side, I tried not to inhale water.

Oh, and another thing: don't let the pieces of the bridge hit you.

A burst of pain exploded in my shoulder, throwing me farther under the water at least another six feet. I screamed soundlessly, precious air bubbles floating toward the surface. My glasses slipped off and into the murk, flying away. Oh, wonderful. My parents will kill me... That is, if this stupid bridge doesn't kill me first- or I could drown. Jeez, so many ways to die.

Kicking vigorously, I raised my arms and began to swim to the surface when agony shot through my arm. Gritting my teeth, I slowly lowered it and kicked closer to the surface. Dots- blurry dots, of course, since my glasses were _gone _-swam in my vision. Ha, swam. I'm delirious from lack of air and now I'm making stupid jokes.

After what seemed like an age, my head broke the surface and I gasped. From now on, I swear I'll appreciate every breath of air I take. Which, at the moment, was about a thousand of them.

I coughed and gasped at the same time, using my legs and uninjured arm to keep my head above the water.

"Are you okay down there?"

I raised my head and blinked. The bride, of course, was broken. On the left side, Colton was leaning over the edge and peering down at me. I tried to call back and tell him that I was fine, which was really a lie, but all that came out was a small croak and another gasp.

A dull pain throbbed in my arm, so this time I had to speak through gritted teeth. My voice sounded like a pathetic gasp.

"I'm... fine! You need to... they'll need you on Lyoko," I said while slowly making my way over to the edge of the water so I could climb out (though how I'll actually get since I'm blind and my shoulder is practically broken)

"But what about you? How will you get out?" Colton asked. I could see him starting to come over.

I really didn't know how I would, but I would somehow. "I'll be fine! Just go... the faster you help, the faster Jeremy can launch a return to the past."

He stopped for a moment, then nodded and ran off. Relieved, I made it to the side and crawled out, struggling to ignore the pain in my arm. I tried to stand, but my felt wobbly, so I just allowed myself to lie on the cement. I'm glad for the return to the past, or else I would be totally sore. Right now, I'm totally tired though. I guess I'll lie down for a bit. I don't think I'd be any help on Lyoko anyway...

I don't even remember falling asleep, I swear. But suddenly, I woke up with a start and saw a white rapidly coming toward me. Ah, that must be the return to the past- wonderful. I sighed and lowered myself back onto the cement as it passed over me, then closed my eyes-

And suddenly I was standing in the hallway, wearing my pajamas- and my glasses! Yes!

"Look out!"

And there was the shout. I already knew that he was coming, so I dived down onto the floor just in time to get an armful of Kiwi. Which one? Oh, the fruit kiwi- What do you think? The dog, duh.

He squealed and squirmed in my arms, but I held him tightly. Odd and Ulrich breathlessly ran up to me. I couldn't help a smile spreading over my face. Everyone was okay.

"Here you go. And Ulrich, those are yours," I said as I handed Odd Kiwi, pointing to the cloth in his mouth.

"Yeah," Ulrich said as yanked the cloth from Kiwi's mouth. To my surprise, I noticed that he wasn't smiling... Odd wasn't either- but he sure looked happy to see me. He immediately set Kiwi down hugged me tightly. Boy, for such a scrawny- um, I mean, svelte- boy, he sure was strong.

"Breathing... is important," I managed breathlessly, squirming in his death-lock hug, "and right now, I can't."

Odd let go, and this time I saw a small smile. "Right. What happened? You weren't on Lyoko."

As I described the bridge breaking apart, his expression showed shock and concern. "The bridge actually... collapsed? Are you okay? Did anything hit you-"

"The return to the past took care of it," I interrupted. "Now, why don't you tell me why you both look like someone died?"After a moment of staring at their solemn faces, I got a horrible thought."Nothing happened... right?" I asked quietly. "No one fell into the digital sea-?"

"No, nothing like that," Ulrich interrupted. "Let's bring Kiwi back to our room, then we can go to Jeremy and explain what happened."

* * *

"You decoded the diary?" I asked incredulously as I sat on Jeremy's bed, next to Aelita. Odd was next to me, Yumi was leaning against the wall, and Colton and Ulrich were on Colton's bed. He looked happy to see me. What, did he think I would drown? Okay, so maybe I could have, but that's not the point.

"With Franz Hopper's help," Jeremy said as he nodded, swiveling his chair around.

Yes! He decoded the diary! I looked around at the other's faces, which mirrored my expression of what was most likely shock. Jeremy, though... he just seemed... I don't know. Upset wasn't quite the right word, neither was excited.

"Everything we need is in the diary, which means that we'll be able to find my anti-virus," Aelita said, both sounding and looking much more excited than Jeremy.

"Yes," Jeremy said slowly, "that's right."

What's wrong with him? Wasn't he happy? The others must have been wondering the same thing, but Ulrich was the only one to speak it aloud.

"Well, then? What else? If we have everything we need, then what's the problem?"

Yeah, maybe there was some bad news. That must be why Jeremy is acting so weird.

"Well, Franz Hopper's diary... contained everything."

"Right, right," Ulrich said, somewhat impatiently. Right, I knew this too.

"I learned that, before Hopper was captured by Xana, he lived here on earth," Jeremy said as he stood from the chair and spread his arms beside him, as if to gesture to everything.

"Uh huh; we already knew that," Yumi said, shrugging. Jeremy walked closer-wow, he was so short next to her- to her and put a finger up like he does when he's about to explain something.

"Right. But what we didn't know was that he had a child." Jeremy pushed his glasses up with a finger and looked toward Aelita.

Please, get to the point already.

"She was a little girl. Franz brought her to Lyoko too."

Apparently a few made the connection faster than I did, because I heard small gasps from Colton and Yumi. I thought in confusion for a moment, then it clicked.

"Well, what happened to the girl?" Ulrich asked curiously, folding his arms. "Did she get captured by Xana too?"

Oh my gosh. Doesn't he see it? No, he doesn't. By the looks of it, Odd doesn't either.

"No," Jeremy said. "She stayed on Lyoko." He was now staring at Aelita intensely. She was shaking her head with a frown.

"No, that can't be, I..."

Jeremy's eyebrow raised as he finally cracked a smile. Odd and Ulrich finally looked like they got it. They were staring at Aelita, like everyone else in the room. I'm sure I was too.

Aelita shook her head vigorously, almost frantic. "No, no, if Hopper's daughter was there, I would've definitely known, I-I... can't be."

"You are," Jeremy said.

It was small, short, and simple. They were two simple words, but I was sure they'd change Aelita's life forever.

* * *

Well, _that _took long enough. The end was rushed, but I've already rambled on enough, so I had to cut it short... Maybe this monster chapter makes up for not updating? Sigh. However, now that NaNoWriMo is finished, I promise updates will come faster.

edit: Oh, and yeah, I know the action on Lyoko would've been nice, but I dragged the chapter out way too long already and the action could've put the chapter at 5,500 words or something.

It's finally your turn, Matson! XD Sorry for taking so long.


	9. Silver mystery

After some consideration, he has decided to continue. So to all those (by all I mean the few) that follow NA, no more discontinuation! Yays! I wrote about half of this.

* * *

**Unknown POV  
**

_I love showers._

The girl sighed with pleasure and closed her eyes so she could thoroughly enjoy the warm stream. The water gently fell on her head and streamed down her silver hair, soaking it, making it look even more shiny. Though teased and laughed at occasionally for the abnormal color, she loved her hair. It fell to her waist like a curtain with a silver sheen. Smiling, she remembered how her father would explain her silver hair.

She'd be only five when she'd notice something and ask, "Daddy, why is my hair so different from the other kids'? I didn't see anyone with white hair, only me."

Then he'd always say, wearing a big smile, "When you were only two, we accidentally spilled some bleach on your hair. It didn't get in your eyes or hurt your head, just made your hair completely white. That's why you have white hair."

She hadn't known what bleach was, but she'd always taken him very seriously for a while. It was only around nine when she began to doubt his explanation, and tried to ask again, but he'd always reply the same way.

_He'd probably still tell me that if he was around.  
_

The girl felt a pang of sadness, but pushed it away. Hopefully, he was in a better place.

_Then again, he'd have to come up with a reason why my hair started turning silver at age ten. _

Not wanting to waste hot water, she shut the shower off and waited a moment, allowing water to pool at her feet. Then she stepped out and blinked at the blurry and steamy shower room.

_Showers are so nicely relaxing. Perhaps I'll take more than one a day... No, that would use too much water. I wouldn't want to waste. Maybe I could come up with something to conserve water. Of course, it would take a while, because so many people have tried it. Like they've tried creating an alternate power source that's environmentally friendly. Well, no one has tried harnessing the power of a star, but with today's technology, that wouldn't—oh, Star! I haven't called her in a while!_

The girl hurriedly slipped on her glasses, then began to dry before getting dressed. After a few minutes, she was dressed and comfortably sprawled on the couch with her hair wrapped up in a towel. Something that seemed to be between the cushions, however, repeatedly poked her. After rummaging between the cushions, she found a familiar photograph.

It was taken a day after her father had died.

Two strange men in black suits had brought in the coffin and guarded it during the funeral, claiming that the body was too vulgar to be seen. After the funeral, they took it away without letting anyone see it. At her young age, the girl could only grieve and morn, not yet old enough to be suspicious about it. But now, she stared at the photo of many relatives dressed in black she didn't recognize and quickly found herself, only nine at the time. Her face was tear-streaked and her white hair stood out among black like a white ink blot on a black page.

With more time to think, she couldn't help but examine the picture farther. All of her relatives had mostly the same expressions: grim, sad, frowns, or in tears. A few had tried to fake-smile for the camera, but the smiles looked more like grimaces.

The girl shook herself out of the depressing picture and grabbed her phone, dialing a number. It was only two rings before the receiver picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Star!" When she didn't respond immediately, the girl kept going. "You are Star, aren't you? My cousin? Because last time I tried to call you I called some Chinese restaurant. Quite embarrassing it was, but they had some specials that sounded delicious. Would you like to hear them?"

"No thank you, Twi. And yes, it is Star." Star didn't sound at all surprised by the barrage of random questions and statements. If anything, she sounded like she expected it.

"Oh, that's great! How've you been?"

There was a pause. "Great." By the pause and tone of her voice, the silver-haired girl, Twi, could tell she was lying at once.

"Great? You don't sound great. If you were great, you'd sound happy, and you don't sound that happy. Right?"

Another pause. "Well, yeah," Star admitted. "I've been okay, but I could be worse. I could have to help my friends fight a crazed, demonic artificial intelligence that wants to destroy the human race on a twice weekly basis."

Twi laughed. "Oh, Star! It's about time you get some imagination!"

"Yeah, ha-ha." There was a small, strange sounding laugh, but Twi didn't pay any attention to it. She was busy studying the photograph again.

"So, have you eaten any cinnamon lately?"

Star sounded slightly puzzled. "Why would I eat cinnamon?"

Twi searched the expressions on the photo. Sad, sad, grim, tears, sad. Nothing interesting. "Well, I don't know. Maybe you'd feel the need to eat cinnamon. You could eat it, you know, but with your allergy, I wouldn't advise it." She examined the suits, dresses, and skirts next.

"I don't feel the need to, and I haven't eaten any lately; thank you for asking."

Nothing interesting. Everyone was wearing black, and sometimes a veil or a few traces of white stood out on a suit. Otherwise, nothing. "Ah," Twi said distractedly. "Good."

Star, used to her cousin's detached demeanor, said nothing.

Now the background. Everyone stood on grassy ground that held no flowers, and the sky was murky and greyish, as if it were the contents of a cup an artist washed their paintbrushes in. It was a fitting color for the day. The two men stood behind everyone else, off to the right, and behind them was the coffin.

"So... you called to ask how I've been doing and whether I've eaten something that would make me sick?"

Twi saw a dark blue car in the left hand corner of the photo, but it was far away, and details were hard to come by. Even so, she knew it was her father's car. After a quick skim, she found nothing of interest and moved onto the people again. "That... was part of it..." This time, her brother's expression caught her eye. He stood behind herself on the left hand corner of the picture, fifteen at that time, with his hands on her shoulders to offer comfort. He did look sad, but something else, too. "I just haven't talked to you in a while. You haven't called."

Twi squinted at the picture. She had an odd talent for reading expressions like a book, but her brother's was very hard to place. He looked... angry, maybe? No.

"Oh, well... I've just... been busy."

"Too busy to spare a few minutes to talk?" Was it suspicion? No, it was more of worry, Twi thought. Anxiousness and worry. What would he be worrying about?

"Oh..." Now Star sounded a bit guilty, but Twi didn't notice. She was somewhere else. "I've also had a lot to think about..."

At that moment, Twi noticed that her brother's body was turned. It was only slight, but noticeable under close inspection. His shoulder turned slightly to the right, along with his head, and his eyes weren't focused on the camera. It was like he was trying to see behind himself without making it too obvious. It almost worked.

"Okay," Twi said simply, just for the sake of conversation. She pretended that he had been looking backwards and followed his gaze, and for all she could tell, he seemed to be looking at the car. Maybe she had missed something. It took several seconds of examination, but she saw something she hadn't noticed before. It was a small speck of black on the door. No, not just one, a few specks of black. She also saw a few things in the window.

The girl squinted hard, trying to make out what they were. Then a realization crashed into her like a wall of bricks. Her stomach decided to drop all the way to her feet while her heart decided to jump in her throat. Her brain, however, decided to scream the realization in her thoughts.

The specks of black and things on the window were holes—_bullet _holes.

* * *

**Star's POV**

Twi was silent for a long time. I shifted uneasily on the bed, wondering if I had upset her. I knew that since both of her parents were died, she was left with only her brother and grandmother for close family. But I also knew that she considered me close family, since I was part of the little family she had left, even if I was just her cousin. By not calling her for the last year or so, I could've accidentally hurt her.

After almost a minute, I was prepared to apologize for not calling when she replied to me.

"I... Look, I... I need to go. I'll call you later." The line went dead.

I blinked, then frowned at the phone. Before she had hung up, Twi's voice had trembled, as if she were about to cry. Twi never cried. Both of her parents had died; she lived alone with her grandmother, and was often teased for her unusual behavior and hair color, which meant she spent her school hours alone too. But, even with the mostly solitary life my cousin lived, she was abnormally cheerful. I came to learn that if she cried, then something was seriously wrong.

I tried to call her again, but the phone only rang repeatedly. She wouldn't answer. I sighed, setting my phone down, and looked down at my science textbook without really reading it. I'd find out soon enough.

* * *

**Colton's POV**

As I sat on the opposite end of Star's bed and watched her talk to whoever on the phone, I heard a joke about having to fight a demonic artificial intelligence. A small smile flitted across my face.

Yeah, it could be worse, I guess. But not by much. The smile dropped.

I had admitted to myself a while ago that, when I had agreed to join the Lyoko gang almost seven months ago, I didn't really know what I was getting into. I didn't know the full extent of what fighting Xana meant, and I still don't. None of us do, because no one knows exactly what will happen next. But we do know some things for sure.

We have to lie. We have to lie to our parents, friends, and teachers. We have to give up classes, study, and leisure time. We have to sleep with our phones either in our hands or close by in case Jeremy calls for a Xana attack. We have to be prepared and alert at all times. We have to be ready to jump up and run to the factory at a moment's notice. We have to be ready to plunge into danger, fight, and risk our lives at any moment, at any hour of any given day or night. How often do we have to do this? Occasionally, we must do it every day.

It really sucks. It's a job that offers no pay, no recognition, no credit, and no reward, except for the knowledge that the world can live another day safely because of us. Otherwise, nothing. It's an extremely tough job that puts tons of pressure on our shoulders, a job that requires it be treated above all else, and a job that's definitely not meant for children or even teens at our age.

But it's a job that needs to be done. And if we don't save the world on a twice, maybe thrice weekly basis, who will?

* * *

About an hour later, we walked out of the lunchroom. I couldn't speak for the others, but I was still hungry; the school didn't serve very good food. I glanced at my watch.

"Well, we have about a forty-five minutes before classes. We finished supper really early," I said. "So we have some time to kill."

A look akin to horror quickly spread across Star's face as she realized what she was going to do.

"Uh… Colton? C-Can I talk t-to you in private?" she asked, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

"Sure," I said, waving at the others. "You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up." The others nodded and moved forward while Star and I stayed behind. When they were about a hundred feet away, I turned to Star. "Nervous? Got cold feet?"

"They're frozen!" she whispered loudly, an expression of mingling nervousness and slight panic on her face. "I don't want to do it."

"Star," I began, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You can do this. I'm sure it feels like it won't work, but I _know _you can do this. I'll pull the rest of the group off your back so you'll be alone with Odd. Once you get the chance, just tell him. Don't let anything get in your way," I said in my best pep talk tone.

"Okay, but... What do I say?" she asked.

"Just say what comes to you," I replied easily.

"Okay, I'll... I'll try," Star said quietly, scuffing the tip of her shoe on the ground.

"No, don't try," I said sharply. She looked up in surprise, confusion on her face.

"Don't _try,_" I repeated, unable to hold back a smile. "Succeed."

Star smiled. "I… I will. Thanks, Colton."

"It's what friends are for, huh? Anyway, let's regroup with the others. I have to think of a way to get Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremy, and Aelita off of your back."

We walked back to the others. Star walked alongside Odd while I took a place next to Jeremy.

_Think, stupid! What can you do...private studying? No, I'm terrible at that. Besides, that's what Odd and Star are doing… Come on, think... think… _An idea popped into my head.

_That's it!_

"Hey, guys, what do you say we have a soccer game once we get back?" I offered, hoping they would agree.

"Sure," Ulrich replied in an eager tone. Of course he'd agree. If Ulrich couldn't demonstrate talents in school, he could do it in sports.

"That sounds fun," Aelita agreed with a nod.

"Great," Yumi said.

"W-well, I need to, ah… study... You know, for the… uh, test," Star stammered suddenly. She blushed as everyone looked at her. "Odd… Do you want to, uh, study? Study with me?"

I imagined Star must be screaming at herself on the inside. Odd, on the other hand, was totally oblivious to her plight. It's weird how she could get so shy all of a sudden because of Odd.

"Okay, I guess... sounds great."

I don't think he would've accepted the offer from anyone else, because he didn't sound too eager. By the look on her face, though, Star didn't really care. All she wanted was to get him alone.

_And I've got to make that happen, _I thought to myself. So far, it was all going according to plan. But then Jeremy unknowingly did something that almost blew it all apart.

"Hey, why don't I give you a hand with studying? I'm not even going to play," he said with a shrug. "It's not like I'd be any help. You guys know how I am with sports…"

"Yeah, well, I really don't think that's a good idea," I blurted, words spilling out in a rush. "You could still watch, or play, or…"

_Slow down or you'll blow it!_

"Well, there's going to be an odd number of players, so even if I could play, it would still be uneven. I might as well give a hand to them," Jeremy said, looking at Star and Odd.

_Dang, how did I not see that coming? Of course he would want to help with studying…_

"Come on, Jeremy. Can't you watch me play, then? Aelita asked. She gave me a fleeting glance and must have seen something in my expression, because she fixed Jeremy with the pouty smile that he couldn't refuse. Man, that girl is awesome. One look, and he automatically melts.

"Please, come watch me play?"

Jeremy blinked at her for a moment and then sighed. "Okay, Aelita. I'll watch you." He smiled.

"Great, thank you Jeremy!" Aelita said sweetly, giving Jeremy a peck on the cheek. He blushed heavily and glanced at the others, unused to the public display of affection.

"Great, so it's settled!" I said quickly, relieved it had all worked out and not wanting anyone to change their minds. I was met with nods.

"I'll go get the ball," I said, bolting of to get the ball from Jim.

After searching the grounds for a minute, I saw him by the gym and ran up to him

"Hey Jim, could I please have the soccer ball? We want to play a game."

He peered at me. "You're Matson, huh? Well, that depends." He got closer to my face, speaking in a quiet voice and narrowing his eyes at me. "What do you and your friends do out in the woods?"

"You really want to know, Jim?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders. "We go to a virtual world called Lyoko where we battle monsters that are under the control of an evil artificial intelligence that wants to take over the world."

"Fine, don't tell me," Jim snapped loudly, face still close. Ugh. That guy really needs to try some mouth wash.

"But I _will _find out," he promised.

Jim shoved the ball into my chest and walked off in a huff, leaving me with a big smile spread across my face. I regrouped with the other four and we began planning the teams.

"Okay, I was thinking I take Yumi, and you take Aelita." Ulrich suggested, taking the ball from me.

"Why?" I asked, a mischievous grin spreading across my face as I reclaimed the ball. "Do you like her?"

"What— no, we're just friends," he exclaimed quickly, cheeks flushing. "She's just… ah, a good… player."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Yumi's face turn just as red as his.

Aelita grinned widely, unable to resist giggling at their reactions.

"Why don't we—" she giggled, "change into our P.E. clothes? I can't run in this." She started off toward the dorms.

"Y-Yeah, that sounds good," Ulrich spluttered quickly, following her.

"I'll stay out here," Yumi said. "I'm good in these clothes."

I walked over and held the ball out to her. "Will you watch the ball?"

"Sure," she said, grabbing the ball and bouncing it on her knee.

I started back toward the dorms when I spotted Star and Odd by the vending machine... hugging.

_Mission accomplished,_I thought triumphantly, smiling to myself. Then I spotted Sissi and her goons make their way over to Star and Odd.

_Well, this isn't good…_

Sissi began talking to Star and Odd, but I was too far away to make out what she was saying. Then, I saw Star's face change from happiness to a cold, sad frown.

_Sissi, I swear. It's hard enough getting her to speak to Odd, and now you're butting in… You are dead._

Then Odd said something back, grinning. Star's face lit up. Whatever Odd said must have been really bad, because Sissi stormed off with a furious expression.

Star burst out laughing while Odd waved to Sissi, still grinning. Then he glanced at Star and took her hand. She stopped laughing and glanced back at him, looking as if she might say something. Whatever she would've said was cut off as Odd pressed his lips to hers.

I couldn't suppress a laugh as Star's eyes widened. She looked as if she might pass out.

_Ha, just like Jeremy._

Laughing again, I quickly changed into my P.E. clothes and met up with the others. Ulrich and Yumi had stopped blushing, but their cheeks flushed red as they saw each other again.

Aelita walked alongside me and grinned, elbow me slightly. "Looks like your plan worked, huh?"

"How'd you know?" I asked, surprised to find myself unsurprised. How ironic.

"Ah, Female intuition," she replied, waving a hand. "Good work."

"Thanks," I said with a grin.

We started our game, and about ten minutes into it, Ulrich and Yumi made their first goal. Another three minutes into it, and Aelita was awarded a penalty shot. She managed to get the ball passed Yumi, scoring us another point. The game dragged on for another twenty minutes or so, when we decided to take a quick break. The score was 5-5. During our game, Odd and Star regrouped with the rest of us, and were now sitting on the bench, holding hands. Star couldn't help smiling ear-to-ear. Odd was smiling too, though not as big. However, the look in his eyes was even crazier than usual.

All four of us were sweaty and panting heavily. Jeremie, despite being all alone, did not have his laptop with him and instead chose to watch the game. We relaxed for about five minutes before Ulrich said "Next goal wins."

"You're on," Aelita said as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. Then she glanced to her left and tapped on my shoulder.

"Looks like _someone's_ watching you." She pointed toward the far side of the bleachers. I looked in the direction she was pointing in. Whoa. Rebecca was there, leaning nonchalantly against the bleachers. I tried unsuccessfully to swallow.

Suddenly my stomach was wishy-washy. She noticed me staring and waved, smiling slightly. It was all I could do to wave back without grinning stupidly as a my heart did a little tap-dance. Aelita waved a hand it front of my face.

"C'mon, wake up! We have game to play!" she said. I snapped out of my daze and joined Aelita in the soccer game. Aelita and I took our places on our side of the field. Yumi had the ball and was now charging at us at top speed. Aelita ran after her, and managed to steal the ball from her. Aelita ran toward the goal when Ulrich managed to swipe the ball from her. I sprinted after him in close pursuit, and kicked the ball away from him. The ball now in my position, I bolted off toward our goal. Aelita ran about ten feet off to my left. Yumi ambushed me, coming up from my right trying to take the ball. I quickly passed the ball to Aelita, who got the ball into the goal with one clean kick.

"Yes! We won!" she exclaimed, pumping a fist triumphantly.

"Great job, Aelita," Jeremie congratulated with a smile as he stood and walked over to her. Aelita beamed, said something to him, and grabbed his shoulders. I couldn't stop a smile from spreading over my face as I watch Jeremy blink in confusion, then blush. Aelita kissed him.

"We won," she said again, now laughing as Jeremy completely froze in shock. I was standing and watching the charade from about twenty feet away, and I couldn't help but grin at the scene before me. A movement caught my eye and I glanced off to my left, finding Yumi and Ulrich.

Yumi was looking a bit sad that they'd lost and was looking down. Ulrich put a hand on her shoulder and began talking to her, though I couldn't hear what they were saying. Yumi's mood seemed to brighten as Ulrich kept talking to her. Then, slowly, Yumi put her hands on Ulrich's shoulders kissed him on the lips. Seriously, this is like some sort of love fest.

Once they pulled away I could tell that Ulrich's face was flushed brightly. He glanced over in my direction and a look of horror spread across his face as he realized that I had seen it all. His expression was practically begging me not to speak of what just happened. I simply smiled and flashed him a thumbs up, signaling the secret was safe with me. He responded with a relieved expression, and then returned to Yumi.

Okay, so Star and Odd are in love, Yumi and Ulrich are in love, and so are Jeremy and Aelita. I sighed. I really _was _in the middle of a love fest. Then a hand came down on my shoulder. I turned around to see Rebecca, grinning widely.

And why do I suddenly feel like I'm going to the love fest too?

"So," she said in a dramatic voice, what I thought was an imaginary microphone under her mouth, "you and Aelita just won the championship! What will you do next?" The microphone was brought over to me as she grinned, awaiting a reply.

My mind drew a blank. I searched for any witty replies or something funny, but it was like my brain was purposely whiting out any ideas I had. After several seconds, I had just decided to be Jim and say "I'd rather not talk about it", when my sweat-soaked forehead and damp shirt suddenly became prominent.

"I... I really need a shower," tumbled out of my mouth. Man, I am such an idiot. Just as I felt myself flushing in mortification, Rebecca laughed and moved the microphone back over to her.

Before she could comment, I forced a half smile that was full of embarrassment, then ran away as quickly as I could.

* * *

Fluff fluff fluff! Who doesn't love it? Well, some people, but just bear with us for this chapter, kay? Thanks.

Chapter ten, sneak peek:  
William has a not-so-little interest in the reason why Yumi's constantly running off with Jeremy, Aelita, Odd, and Ulrich.  
Xana attacks with not-so-little regularity.

Until next chapter, hopefully only about a week.


	10. Keys to Lyoko

Chapter 10. Normal POV.

* * *

Jeremy refused to fall asleep.

The computer screen cast a bluish glow on his otherwise dark room, twisting shadows of ordinary items such as books or desks into unrecognizable shapes. It illuminated his tired, half-open eyes and slender, usually fast flying fingers that had slowed to less than fifteen words per minute. He'd been working on finding Aelita's missing fragments that would free her from Xana for… what, over four hours straight? It was about 11:00 when he stumbled upon the discovery that there was no virus, only a so-called 'key' in Aelita and a fragment of her memories that Xana had stolen. Without the fragment, she would remain linked to Xana. Elated by his findings, it was all Jeremy could do not to wake anyone up for the news. He had begun the search for the fragment then but was quickly losing energy. The digital clock beside the computer now read 3:37am.

His head stubbornly refused to fall asleep while his brain and body begged for rest. Colton slumbered soundly behind him, tempting Jeremy to give into the begging, but he refused. There was simply too much work to be done, and sleep, he had decided long ago, was a waste of time. For about a month, Jeremy hadn't gotten more than four, sometimes five hours of sleep a night. Aelita chided him for it, and at times, he was extremely tempted to just stop working and crawl under the warm, soft covers.

Jeremy shook himself, rubbing his eyes. He would not fall asleep.

After a few moments, he decided to search Franz's diary. Maybe something in there would be interesting enough to keep him awake. After a minute or so of sifting through the typed diaries, he clicked one labeled _To Lyoko…? _and began to read.

_January 22, 1993,_

_I'm in more danger than ever, so much so that Aelita is now in danger as well. I'm hurrying to finish Lyoko in hopes that it can serve as a safe haven for us when they come for me. But ANA—_

Though he had seen many of these words, Jeremy assumed it was a typo of XANA.

—_is acting odd. I hope it's nothing more serious than a few minor bugs, because the places where we can be safe are more and more limited. I fear that soon, Lyoko will be the only place to go. _

Interesting, but Jeremy had known that already.

_Hmph. A few minor bugs, _he thought. _What about the drive to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth? Does that count as a bug?_

He kept reading, but nothing more of interest showed up, and with it the battle of staying awake began to waver. His eyelids drooped more and more until Jeremy had fallen asleep completely, head hung with his chin against his chest. However, his glasses slowly slid down his nose until they fell off, bouncing off of his lap before clattering to the floor.

The noise of the plastic-framed spectacles hitting the floor wasn't particularly loud, but in a room that was completely quiet, excluding breathing, they seemed to echo loudly.

Jeremy snapped awake with a small gasp, mouth instinctively forming the word Xana as he scrambled for his phone and keyboard. After a moment of frantic searching he stopped and blinked, seeming to notice that he had only just dozed off. Jeremy relaxed visibly, tension draining out as he searched around blindly for his glasses. After several seconds, he found them and went back to work, but not before taking the last caffeine pill from a packet stored in his drawer.

_Second time tonight I dozed off. _

It was also the second caffeine pill Jeremy had taken that night. His hands had begun to shake with exhaustion, but a small rush of energy from the caffeine stilled them. He knew that they would only keep him awake so long, but that was good enough. Scrolling through files typed up before the earlier one, he clicked one that was labeled _ANA VS. CARTHAGE: Project X._

Project X... The name sounded slightly ominous. Jeremy mentally shrugged, dismissing the feeling, and began to read.

_October 31, 1989,_

_ANA has recently been finished. Even with the minor bugs I need to work out, it is vastly superior to CARTHAGE: Project X. I'm very satisfied with the knowledge that ANA has been preforming exactly as I planned and is suiting its purpose very well._

Which was what, exactly, Jeremy was wondering. He half-squinted at the screen and continued reading.

_However, I'm becoming slightly worried. Project X has been under construction for over fourteen years, yet it shows little to no promise. Why? They've done so much better before. If I make predictions off of their past work, Project X should be just as good as ANA. _

Jeremy frowned at Franz's lack of mentioning who "they" were.

_Why would they neglect to work on it until Project X reached its full potential? There must be a reason, I'm sure, but it is hidden, and I have not yet found it. This is what worries me. The initial reason for Project X was supposed to be convenience—an efficient, intelligent, powerful, and vastly superior AI to assist people in managing advanced technology, something very similar to ANA's own design. But I sense an ulterior, possibly dangerous motive. _

_For every key I find to solving this mystery, another ten mysteries pop up. Soon I will be surrounded by dangerous secrets that will swamp me and slowly pull me down, down, until I am drowned by my own ignorance. _

_I've been in danger for over a decade. But, for the first instance in that length of time, I'm beginning to feel truly afraid. _

Truly afraid.

Jeremy's now awake mind buzzed with thoughts. He ran over the words in his mind and moved his jaw around, as if he could taste them.

_He's truly afraid. _

Jeremy's face twisted into a frown. The words didn't taste very good, apparently.

_He's truly afraid because of Project X. _

Though Jeremy had never actually met him, Franz Hopper didn't seem like a man who scared easily. If he was afraid of this AI, Project X he called it, then it had to be dangerous. It might have been even more dangerous than Xana.

That scared Jeremy. The thought of something more dangerous than the insane AI, a power-hungry murderer with limitless access to government weapons, deadly diseases, and more, terrified him. For a while, something more dangerous than XANA wasn't considered. Even if it was, the thought would be dismissed as a nightmarish fantasy or something that simply didn't exist. But now, there was a possibility of it. If Project X was similar enough to XANA—or ANA, Franz called it for some reason—then it could turn self-aware and evil too.

_Then we'd have another Xana on our hands._

The thought lodged a pit of dread in Jeremy's stomach. It was very possible they could have another Xana.

_Already, we can hardly manage the first one; I'm not especially eager to see if we can juggle a second. _

He tried to browse through the other files, hoping to find more about Project X, but sleepiness soon took over completely. Jeremy's head was propped up by his arm on the desk, but it slowly slid and collapsed, bringing his head with it. The blond teen was simply too exhausted to care and allowed his eyes to slide shut, using the keyboard as a pillow. It was 4:00am when Jeremy crossed the border from dozing to completely asleep, too tired to dream. He slept soundly the rest of the night.

The next morning, Colton couldn't help but smile as he saw Jeremy asleep at his desk. He walked over, draped a blanket over his shoulders, switched the keyboard for an actual pillow, and gently took his glasses off as he'd watched Aelita do so many times.

Then his smile turned into a frown as he saw the empty packet of caffeine tablets. This was his fifth packet he'd used this month.

_Jeremy, Jeremy. When will you learn that you can't stay awake on just caffeine? You have to actually get sleep, too. _

Colton sighed to himself as he dressed and headed to breakfast. The others were seated around the usual table. Odd was animatedly shoving food into his mouth while Aelita munched a croissant and Ulrich had coffee in hand, but was only half awake. Star was absent and Yumi hadn't yet arrived. When Colton went to the table alone, Jeremy's absence was noted immediately.

"Where's Jeremy?" Aelita was the first to inquire and the only one who looked able to do so. Ulrich was practically asleep and Odd had a mouthful of food.

Colton gave a half smile as he sat across from her and next to Ulrich. "What, no 'good morning', or even just 'hi'? What am I, chopped liver?"

His smile disappeared at Aelita's worried look. Around a full mouth Odd muttered, spraying crumbs everywhere, "Hey, tha's offenshive ooh shopped liver."

Colton made a disgusted face at him and turned to Aelita. "Jeremy's out," he said.

"Out?"

Odd began to speak, but Colton held up a hand, signaling for him to eat first. The blond compliantly chewed for several seconds before swallowing, then said, "I think what he's saying is that Einstein slept in."

Colton snorted as he inspected the murky brown of his soup. After a moment, he picked up a croissant instead, seemingly deciding not to risk the unseen contents of the soup. "Passed out is more like it. I woke up sometime during the middle of the night—probably 2am or something—and I heard him typing. But when I woke up this morning, he was passed out on the keyboard. I also found an empty pack of caffeine tablets."

"Again?" Aelita asked in dismay.

Colton nodded as he took a bite of his croissant, careful to chew and swallow before talking. "Yeah. The only way your body will get real energy, not just a sugar or caffeine rush, is sleep. All that caffeine isn't good for your system and you can't keep yourself up on it alone. In fact, if he keeps swallowing them at this rate, he'll get seriously sick soon. Also, where's Star?"

"Couldn't wake her up," Aelita answered with a shrug. "She sleeps as heavy as Odd does."

Odd made a seemingly indigent comment that was lost in his full mouth while Colton laughed. Once Odd was able to talk again, it appeared that he was going to repeat the comment when he noticed Yumi coming through the doors. A cup of what presumably was coffee in hand and her usual black bag slung over a shoulder, she quickly found the table and headed toward it.

A grin suddenly stretched Odd's, for once in his life, empty mouth.

"I don't like that look," Colton muttered.

"Look, Ulrich's girlfriend has arrived!" Odd announced cheerfully. After a moment, he glanced at Ulrich, disappointed in his lack of a reaction, then grinned even more when he noticed that the brunette had dozed off.

"Ulrich's girlfriend has arrived!" Odd repeated, almost yelling. He said it so loudly that people as far as two tables over turned to peer curiously at him. One of them was William, but Ulrich was too busy snapping awake to notice.

"Wha? What about Yumi?" he asked instinctively, cup jerking in his hand while Odd began to laugh.

"You see! You see! I have witnesses! Ulrich just admitted that Yumi was his girlfriend!"

Yumi had apparently heard it as well. Her face was flushed brightly, and her normally calm look was replaced with a glare. She walked toward Odd while the poor brunette struggled to make sense of the situation.

"Hey, quiet down, Odd. We don't need any rumors spreading, you hear?" Her voice was quiet, but in the kind of quiet that made the tone more serious and… deadly. That's what it sounded like to Odd. Her smoldering eyes and strict tone promised punishment for the joker if he continued. Not quite restraining a smile, Odd nodded vigorously, and she slid into the chair next to him.

"Where's Star? And Jeremy?" the Japanese girl asked, quick to notice the two unfilled chairs.

"Star's probably still asleep, unless she's rushing a shower. Colton says that Jeremy fell asleep at the computer again."

Yumi nodded while Odd suddenly peered over Ulrich's shoulder. "Speaking of, here comes sleeping beauty."

Jeremy was quite a sight. The fact that he hadn't gotten much sleep over the past month was obvious in the dark bags under his eyes and haggard appearance. His laptop was tucked under one arm and red keyboard markings stood out on his forehead. He walked slowly and stiffly, as if he were half-dead, and didn't look too far from it. His eyes, however, were full of life.

"Good morning, guys," he said as he slid into the seat next to Aelita. "I have some great news."

"You've decided to become a zombie," Odd guessed instantly, then frowned. "Wait, that wouldn't really be good, would it? But you do look like a zombie, Einstein."

Jeremy scowled at Odd, and when he received only an unfazed grin in response, the young genius looked at the others.

"What's the good news?" Aelita asked kindly, deciding she'd chide him about his sleeping habits some other time.

"Aelita's antivirus no longer needs to be found."

Surprised exclamations and mutters were heard around the table.

"You mean, you've finally found it?" asked Ulrich, who had woken up enough to listen to the conversation.

"Well, technically, no." At their disappointed expressions, he hurriedly continued, "but that's only because it doesn't need to be found."

"What do you me—oh, hey, Star's here!" Odd said suddenly as a blond haired girl with a streak of green in her hair rushed through the double doors.

She was clad in grey shorts, a lime green t-shirt with yellow and white striped sleeves that reached to her hands underneath it, and plain blue sneakers. The only obvious signs that she had a rushed morning were the tag sticking out of the back of her collar and her frizzy hair, which spilled messily onto her shoulders. After getting a tray, she slid into a spot next to Odd and greeted them breathlessly.

"Good morning."

"Ran a mile before breakfast?" Yumi asked while Ulrich said bluntly, "Your shirt is inside out."

Star glanced down at her shirt, reaching behind herself to feel the tag, then shrugged. "Okay. I'll fix it later."

"Your hair looks like it was done by a raccoon," Odd commented after a few moments.

"Says the boy with hair that looked like it was blown back by a turbo fan." She childishly stuck her tongue out at him, while Ulrich whispered "_Burn!_" at an indigent Odd. "Can't you guys just say 'good morning' or something?"

"I know exactly how you feel," Colton muttered.

Star picked up a croissant and began to take a bite, but then she stopped and sniffed it cautiously. "This smells a little weird… what's in this?"

"Cinnamon," Odd replied through his once again full mouth. "Ish deliciosh."

Star moved the croissant away from her and set it back on the plate with slow and careful movements, as if it were a bomb, then pushed her tray to Odd. "All right then." No one questioned the strange behavior.

"Have you tried the croissants with chocolate chips?" Odd inquired to both Aelita and Star, now eating her croissants. "They're even better than the cinnamon."

"No, but that sounds really—"

Jeremy cut in, speaking in disbelief. "Did the topic actually go from Aelita's antivirus to the different flavors of croissants?"

Star seemed to only just notice him. "Good morning to you too, Einstein. You seem pretty cheerful this morning. For a zombie, I mean."

While Jeremy only rolled his eyes, Odd grinned and said, "Wish I would've thought of that."

Star returned the grin, satisfied with herself, when Aelita interrupted. "Okay, guys, I think we've talked enough about how it's obvious that Jeremy isn't getting enough sleep." She shot him a glance and muttered, "Though I certainly plan to talk to him about it later."

Colton stirred the soup with his spoon but didn't eat any. "Aelita's right. Jeremy, what were you going to say about her antivirus?"

The genius cleared his throat, obviously glad to have the conversation back on topic, and said, "Just that there will be no antivirus, because Aelita doesn't have a virus."

Yumi frowned in confusion. "But I thought that was what linked her to Xana? It's the virus that's not letting us shut down the supercomputer, right?"

Jeremy put his laptop on the table and opened it, beginning to type. "Well, no. It is true that Aelita is linked to Xana, but she's not linked by a virus. It turns out that Xana didn't implant something in her, but rather stole something _from _her." He turned the laptop around so the others could see its screen. "He stole a fragment of her."

"Stole some of me?" Aelita asked. "How does that happen?"

"Well, Xana didn't steal a physical part of you; he stole a mental part of you. This is the good side of your DNA strand." Jeremy pointed to the computer.

"Good side?" Colton asked. "How can there be a good side of your DNA?"

"I described it the wrong way. It's not a good side of your DNA; it's a side that shows your good qualities. As you can see, Aelita's good qualities are shown here, such as her image, mental capabilities, musical and technological talents, and more, all of which are quite high." He smiled at the pink haired girl, whose cheeks were, at the moment, darker than her hair.

No one said anything. Then: "Jeremy," Ulrich said slowly, "I know you think you're explaining yourself, but you're really not. Translation, Aelita?"

She was still blushing. "He's saying that the information in my DNA is showing me as talented and intelligent."

"Don't forget beautiful," Odd said with a wink as he elbowed Star, who grinned. Now it was Jeremy's turn to blush as he continued.

"Yes, it shows her beauty too." The unintended compliment won the blushing blond a shy smile from Aelita. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and pointed to something on the screen. "But, do you see this?"

"No," said Odd.

Jeremy ignored him. "This is a gap. It's where her memories should be, but they're gone. This is the part that Xana stole."

Brows creased and mouths frowned, but Aelita was the one to ask, "Okay, so Xana stole my memories. How do we get them back?"

Jeremy laced his fingers together. "I'm not sure," he admitted after several seconds. "But I think a good place to start looking would be sector five."

"That sounds good," agreed Yumi. "But why would Xana send the scyphozoa again and again if he already had Aelita's memories?"

"Because he didn't get what he wanted," Jeremy said. "Allow me to explain. When Aelita was going to be materialized for the first time, Xana knew that as soon as she was, we'd turn the supercomputer off. That meant the end for him. Well, I'm assuming he panicked and took Aelita's memories so she'd be linked to the supercomputer. But that wasn't the entire reason."

Seven people listened intently. Six were sitting at the table, and one was a raven-haired boy, two tables away, who was more confused than ever.

"Aelita, like Franz, holds one of the keys to Lyoko." Before anyone could ask anything, he continued. "The key is located in Aelita's memories. That's what Xana wants."

Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"What would Xana want with the keys to Lyoko?" Odd asked.

"What he's been wanting," Aelita said quietly, drawing all attention to her. "To escape from the supercomputer."

* * *

Her father's car had bullet holes.

Twi frowned at the stain she was trying to scrub off of a plate. Warm water swished around in the sink and washed over the plate, making it hot to the touch. She had just shoved the picture back between the cushions before her grandmother needed the dishes washed.

_Bullet holes. There are bullet holes in his car, and he died of heart failure? A healthy man in his early thirties? I hardly think so._

Twi scrubbed harder. The sponge rasped against the plate and soap bubbles popped. The stain didn't disappear.

She grimaced, fighting a sense of nausea.

_He was murdered...  
_

Twi shook herself. She could simply be jumping to conclusions. There was no guarantee that the holes in the car were bullet holes. Even if they were, wouldn't people have noticed? Wouldn't they have asked questions or said something about it?

_Yeah. I'm just being paranoid. It's not like Jerry was trying to look at the car because there were bullet holes in it.  
_

The stain was coming off, but Twi scrubbed as hard as ever. She bordered on the edge of relief and nausea, full of uncertainty. Doing the dishes gave her plenty of time to choose which side to cross over to, but until she had proof of the truth, she'd stay uncertain.

After several seconds, Twi was unable to bear being with her thoughts. She'd ask Jerry and settle it there. He'd never lie to her. Leaving few dishes unwashed, she dried her hands and was getting her phone when a beep sounded from the living room. It was followed by a squeal.

"It's okay, grandma!" Twi said hurriedly as she walked into the room. "It's just an email." An open, silver laptop sat on a wooden coffee table that was across from the couch her grandmother was sitting on. The old woman's eyes were wide with surprise and fear behind her wiry spectacles and her wrinkled face was scrunched into a frown.

"Email. Huh. For the life of me, I couldn't believe anything other than the fact that emails were created to frighten folks like me." The last part came out in a sigh.

Twi eyed her grandmother for a few moments. The woman was short and stout, with a pinched face full of wrinkles. Constantly paranoid, hazel eyes peered over the rims of thin glasses, giving her the appearance of a librarian. shoulder-length, curly hair that had gone through phases of white and silver since age six fell onto her shoulders, explaining the reason for Twi's unusual hair color. All in all, she appeared to be a normal grandmother. Inside, however, she was... Twi preferred to call it a spiraling sanity. It slipped through the normal appearance most often when she was exposed to technology. She'd once screamed repeatedly at a Siri display in a store, convinced that someone was trapped inside the phone. Twi and her grandmother had been kicked out.

She knelt down next to the table, wincing as she remembered the incident. It had been quite embarrassing.

Twi shrugged it off and opened her father's old email.

When her father had died—though it had happened at a young age, Twi remembered it as if it had been recorded and stored permanently in her mind—she had taken his old laptop and kept his email. Though it was protected fiercely with several seemingly impenetrable firewalls if one tried to access it on a different computer, on his laptop, it only had one, simple pass code lock that had taken no time to figure out. Twi thought that it must've carried important information, since he went to great lengths to protect it and constantly carried the laptop around. It had stated clearly in his will that the laptop—and all it held—was enclosed to her.

It was one of the oldest, slowest models, compared to modern laptops, but it was something to hang onto from one of her parents, and Twi wouldn't dare throw it away.

Bursting with curiosity, she had completely checked his—no, hers, now—laptop, and had long ago admitted to herself that she'd been disappointed when all she'd found were a few odd files and his email address. However, a steady stream of strange yet interesting emails had started to fill the inbox. Twi hadn't replied to any of them, but read all of them.

Though they didn't make any sense to her, she noticed oddly familiar and frequently repeating words: CARTHAGE, Lyoko, supercomputer, and once or twice, something called X.A.N.A. What the letters stood for, she didn't know, but the word gave her a strange feeling. She didn't know what X.A.N.A was, but if felt like she should've. The word caused a strange sense of foreboding and a stirring, as if something buried deep within her memories was struggling to show itself.

Twi pushed the feeling down, telling herself that they were only words, and that it was silly to feel like that way. But the feeling floated back up, along with a nagging voice that said they might've been just words, but they could've carried considerably important information. She mentally froze her thoughts and pushed them to the back of their mind so she could read the email, knowing that it would be only so long before they unfroze and pestered her.

Twi scanned the contents of the inbox. Her brow creased as she saw the sender of the email. The previous ones had come from a user named CARProjectX, but the new one had been sent by GS12. She felt a small tingle of curiosity as her hand hovered over the mousepad. This was from someone new, and it could explain a lot more than the others had. Her heart thudded in her chest as she attempted to slow it, unwilling for her hopes to be raised pointlessly. It was probably just another email of gibberish.

_Come on. You'll never know if you don't actually read it,_ a part of her brain snapped.

Twi gave a small nod, as if agreeing with herself. After releasing a small breath, she clicked the email and began to read.

_Dear J, _

_I am unaware of your whereabouts, but I am in need of your assistance. You must go to Kadic Academy immediately and tell no one. It is of the utmost urgency. But tread with great care, for our worst fears have come true. X.A.N.A has re-awakened._

Twi shivered. There it was again.

_X.A.N.A._

The frozen thoughts and feelings pushed at her impatiently, as if they had something to say, but she shoved them back. The feeling of foreboding had returned. Whatever X.A.N.A was, it was awakening.

_No, _Twi thought. re_-awakening. So it must've been awake before._

If it was re-awakening—if X.A.N.A even was an _it_—then she hoped it wasn't dangerous. Her hopes were shot down and crashed as she kept reading, frowning at the screen.

_It's all my fault. I know I went too far, but this isn't the time to talk about that. I have much to say in limited time.  
_

_Going to Kadic will put you in great danger. Yes, I'm well aware that both of us have been in danger for years, but the danger has increased. Not only are we in danger, but so are the staff and students of Kadic Academy, both of our daughters—_

Twi's stomach did a small flip as her frown deepened.

—_and simply anyone that X.A.N.A. finds in its way as well. _

So X.A.N.A was an it. Her heart had sped up now, mostly with fear, but with a sprig of excitement as well. Trying to decipher various things, her brow furrowed even more.

_For fear that this will be intercepted, I will say no more. Alert me once you have reached Kadic and I will send you another message with further instructions. Best of luck,_

_GS._

By now, Twi was squinting furiously at the screen, as if it might divulge information is she stared hard enough. The screen, however, had nothing to give, and she soon gave up with a small sigh.

This new email meant new information, but all of the information on the laptop (including the recently received email) seemed to be linked with something else. That something else was big, and it was the base for the bits of smaller information that extended outward, acting like branches that stretched out from a tree trunk. Twi became frustrated as she realized that, without the base, she couldn't figure out the details, or smaller secrets. It would be like trying to assemble a giant puzzle that was completely white, a pointless attempt without the color. In other words, she wanted the big, important chunk of info that was the missing key to unlocking the smaller secrets.

But she didn't have it. And without the key, the secrets would remain locked away and useless—for the time being, at least.

Twi scowled at the computer screen for a moment, then composed herself. She reread the email, and then, more carefully, reread it again to see what information she could glean. After ten minutes of reading, thinking, and mentally compiling and piecing together what she knew, Twi had a little more to go on.

The sender of the email was a colleague and possibly taught, or was currently teaching at Kadic Academy. He or she had a daughter and knew what X.A.N.A was; maybe they knew about CARTHAGE and Lyoko. They were connected in some way, Twi thought, by the way the person said _"It's all my fault. I know I went too far_._"_ They were afraid of it.

And, of course, it obviously stated that they needed help. But it didn't explain why. She'd just have to reply sometime and hope the return email answered why.

There was X.A.N.A. It was obvious that the thing had an objective, and whether it was a person, animal, or some kind of technology, it was awake and fully prepared to kill people to fulfill its wishes. The thought sent shivers down Twi's spine.

There were mentions of danger to various people: her father, the sender of the email, their daughter, herself, and anyone unfortunate enough to be in X.A.N.A's way. But it had also said that the sender and her father had been in danger before. It was an unusual concept; He had never given off the impression he'd been in constant danger.

Then there was the fear of interception. Even though it inspired a stirring in her memories and a thrill of curiosity, the email hardly made sense to Twi. But then again, it wasn't intended for her; it was intended for her father. It seemed that, however, someone else wanted or would not hesitate to hack the information enclosed. Or, multiple someones. And if that were the case, the information—X.A.N.A, also—had to be important and highly classified. Why else would interception be a problem?

These and other thoughts swirled around in Twi's head, sometimes bumping into each other or interlocking, but never fully making sense. She allowed herself to be swept in and subconsciously assumed the vacant expression she always wore while in thought. Though it took a few minutes, she was able to pull herself out of the pool of her confusing thoughts.

_It's not much, but it's more than I had before. _

Twi considered setting up a password to protect the email, but something told her that if whoever wanted the email knew where it was located, a simple password wouldn't do any good. She set one up anyway, and when finished, turned to her grandmother.

"Grandma?" she asked.

"Yes, Twi?"

The girl hesitated as her feelings of caution and curiosity started to battle. Caution told her that she didn't know what she was getting into and made her reluctant to do anything dangerous. It said she'd be asking for trouble if she impersonated her father and answered whoever GS12 was. On the other hand, curiosity pressed and tempted her, saying that the emails and files could finally start to make sense. She could uncover a huge secret—or a lot of huge secrets. It would add some spice to her life. They pushed and pulled at each other, both making good and bad points.

Her grandmother sent her a prompting look, and at once Twi was sure that the battle was over. But she was unsure whether the following decision would be horrible or wonderful.

"I... I want to go to Kadic Academy."

Curiosity had won.

* * *

Spyrofan: I'm so sorry. I know I told you that it'd probably be ready by Friday, but that was about two weeks ago. A lot of things popped up, and I became quite busy. I hope you still enjoyed reading it.


	11. Jealousy

"Um, Yumi, can I ask you something?"

Lunch was over. Ulrich had left the two Einsteins to talk over finding Aelita's missing fragments and Odd had gone off with a few words about some sort of video game.

"Yeah?" The Japanese girl looked down at him. Literally. She was almost six inches taller than the brunette.

"Uh..." Ulrich knew he was red. He shifted his weight from foot to foot. He'd faced krabs, kankrelots, megatanks, hornets, tarantulas, the sycphozoa, specters, missile strikes, and a power hungry AI that wanted him dead, all without blinking. Now he was facing a girl—a particular beautiful, Japanese girl that was the only one with the power to reduce him to a stuttering fool—and couldn't even look her in the eye.

"What is it, Ulrich?"

The end of the year dance was coming up. Both of them knew it, and both of them wanted to go together. While Ulrich struggled to spit the question out, Yumi secretly hoped it would be the one she was thinking of.

"Will... Will you go to the—"

"Yumi!"

Blast.

Ulrich turned his head, aware of the very noticeable blush on his cheeks. William was walking toward Yumi, smiling confidently. Of course he had to come _right_ at that moment.

Unknown to each other, Yumi and Ulrich both gave a disappointed mental sigh.

"Yumi, can I talk to you?" William asked, and before she had a chance to answer, the boy took her arm and began to bring her away.

Yumi gave an apologetic look to Ulrich. He sighed as they walked several yards away and William began to talk. Even unable to overhear them, what William was asking was clear. He was blushing, and Yumi had an embarrassed look on her face.

Ulrich felt a spurt of jealousy. Perhaps it was that jealousy that caused Ulrich to do what he did next.

"Sissi!" He called to the black haired girl standing by the vending machines. It wasn't the black haired girl he wanted, but it didn't matter.

The girl's eyes lit up as she hurried over to Ulrich, two other boys trailing doggedly behind.

"Yes, Ulrich?" Her sweet voice made Ulrich shudder and begin to rethink his idea. But then he got a glimpse of Yumi and William again. They were both looking at him. He felt the burn of jealousy again and thoughts of disgust vanished.

"Um, would you like to go to the end of the year dance with me?" Ulrich asked.

Sissi almost exploded on the inside. On the outside, she attempted to remain calm, but it her delight was obvious to Ulrich. "Of course, Ulrich dear. I'd love to."

Ulrich held back another shudder. Too late to go back now. Sissi walked away happily, murmuring to herself about how she knew he had wanted her all this time. The boys followed.

After several seconds, Yumi approached Ulrich with a look of surprise and slight jealousy. "You're going to the dance with Sissi?"

"Yeah." Ulrich tried to keep the satisfaction out of his tone.

"But I thought..."

"What? I mean, you are going to the dance with William, aren't you?"

Here Yumi's face hardened. "Oh, because you know for a fact that he asked me to it and that I said yes?"

Ulrich was beginning to regret his decision.

"Well, I wasn't going to, but I guess now that you're going with Sissi, I can." Frowning, Yumi turned and rejoined William. Ulrich felt a pit forming in his stomach as they talked briefly, linked arms, and walked off.

"Why'd you do that?"

Ulrich jumped. "Jeez, Einstein, don't sneak up on me like that," he said, turning to face the scrawny blond.

He shrugged and after a pause, said, "So, you're going to the dance with Sissi? Good luck with that torture."

Ulrich snorted. "Yeah. I don't know how I'm going to live."

"You wouldn't have to if you had just asked Yumi, you know."

"Yeah, well... I just saw Yumi with William and got a little jealous..." He gestured helplessly.

"A _little _jealous?" Jeremy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah." When a hint of a smirk flickered over Jeremy's face, Ulrich snapped to cover his embarrassment. "Well, it's not so easy to ask, you know? When she's just staring at you..."

"It's just a simple question. It's not that hard, Ulrich. All you need is some confidence and courage."

Ulrich couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Not that hard? Confidence and courage? Coming from _you_? I'd like to see you try to ask Aelita to the dance!"

A blush blossomed on Jeremy's cheeks. "Well, I could, if I, um, wanted to..." He coughed, averting his eyes. "But whether I could or not is irrelevant. I'm not going to the dance."

"Why not?" Ulrich asked.

"Too much work to do. Aelita and I will be in the computer la—"

"Did I hear my name?"

Jeremy chuckled as Ulrich jumped. A pinkette suddenly stood by the duo, tilting her head curiously.

"When did everyone turn into a ninja?" Ulrich asked, shaking his head. Then, catching Jeremy's smile, he suddenly thought of an idea. "Yeah, Aelita, you did. We were just talking about the dance."

Jeremy must have seen the glint in Ulrich's eyes, because his own widened slightly. The blond gave a slight shake of his head. Ulrich gave a slight nod back, trying to restrain a smirk.

"Oh, the end of the year dance?" Aelita asked. When she received a nod by Ulrich, she smiled. "Ah. I'm hoping to go to it with someone."

"Oh, really?" Ulrich spoke in a high tone, filled with fake innocence. Jeremy shook his head more noticeably, but this time it was pleading. "Because Jeremy wanted to go too. In fact, he has something to ask you."

Jeremy stole a glance at Aelita, blushed at her beaming face, then stared at Ulrich.

_Don't, _his eyes said.

_Well, you said it wasn't hard, _Ulrich responded via eyebrow raised and small smirk. Then he jerked his head slightly.

_Go on, then._

Jeremy shook his head.

"Well?" Aelita asked expectantly, looking back and forth between Ulrich and Jeremy.

"Uh... I was hoping that... you'd, um, go to the dance with me..." Blushing, Jeremy stared at Ulrich. _Happy? _

Ulrich smirked in response.

"I'd love to!" Aelita exclaimed happily. She pecked him on the cheek. "I have to get something from the library, but I'll meet you in the computer lab in a little while." Then she was gone as quickly as she had come.

Jeremy touched the spot where Aelita had kissed him, then shoved his hands in his pocket, blushing and smiling. He noticed Ulrich staring at him meaningfully.

"What?" Jeremy asked defensively, blushing even more. "You've never seen a hypocrite before?"

* * *

"Hey, Jerry." Twi twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

"Twi?" his groggy voice answered.

"Yep, the one and only, the amazing." Twi smiled. "How are you?"

There were muffled noises on the other end of the phone line. "Twi, you know I love you, but why are you calling at this hour? My classes don't start for a few hours and I'd really like to sleep until then."

"Jeez, you act like being on the phone with a sister you haven't seen or talked to in months is so terrible."

"It's not. But it's not fun when it's 4:00am my time. Speaking of sisters, how is Dawn doing?" Jerry asked.

"She's doing good, as far as I know. I'll check on her soon."

"Good." There was a long pause. "Did you want anything? If you called for just idle chitchat, please call back later. I need to sleep."

"Fine." Twi allowed herself to lie on the grass, hair stretched out in silver streaks around her. "I just wanted to..." She stopped. A nagging feeling said not to ask about her father's death. Instead, she said, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm transferring schools."

"Again?"

She could hear the accusation in his voice. "It wasn't my fault I got stuck on the roof last time, remember?"

"Maybe not, but it _was _your fault that the principal's party was ruined."

"I didn't know the chocolate fountain would explode!" Twi exclaimed, then sighed. "Okay, enough about past schools."

"What did you do to get expelled this time?"

"I didn't do anything, and I didn't get expelled. Honestly, I don't know where you get the notion that I'm always in trouble. I'm just switching schools."

"Why?"

"Um, I'd like a fresh start." The lie was out before she had even thought about it. "Besides, Kadic has been offering me a scholarship for my skills and grades for over a month now."

There was a pause. "Kadic? You're going to Kadic?" His voice was suddenly alert and stiff, sounding completely different than the half-asleep tone Jerry had used before.

Twi noticed it. "Well, yes," she said slowly.

"All right then. Call me when you get there, okay? Listen, I have to go." Before Twi could say anything, there was a small click and the phone went dead.

Twi sat up and frowned at the phone. He was keeping something from her. She could hear it in his tone.

_Just another secret to add to the pile, I guess. _

She stood, shrugged to herself, and went inside to pack.

* * *

"Yumi, you know, I was wondering..."

"Yeah?"

William looked up from his book. "What do you do when you rush away so often with your friends? What's the hurry?"

Yumi stiffened. She looked up from her textbook, eyes darting around the library. "Why do you want to know?"

William recoiled at the sharpness of her tone. He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Hey, no need to get mad, I'm just curious."

Yumi relaxed. "Sorry... We do different things, like, um... studying." She mentally winced at the lie.

"Studying? But you guys act so urgently, like you need to save the world or something."

Yumi forced a weak chuckle. "Well, you'd act urgent if you needed to save the world, wouldn't you?"

William smiled. "I guess so. But it's not like you guys have to, right?"

Yumi tried not to sigh. How she wished that were true. "Right."


	12. Cinnamon

There was someone in her room. She could hear them.

Aelita opened one eye, briefly glimpsing a dark ceiling.

_Probably just Star._

She closed the eye then heard a muffled thud as something was knocked over. A small curse, then a sigh followed. A few seconds later there was another sound. Star was making an awful lot of noise.

"Star, can you keep it down?" Aelita mumbled as she turned away from the wall, not bothering to open her eyes.

"Oh, so this is Star's room?"

Aelita froze. That wasn't Star. She sat up, rubbing at her eyes, and came face to face with a girl. Literally. She leaned over the bed so that her nose was inches from Aelita's.

The pink haired girl drew a breath to scream, but a hand was quickly over her mouth. The other girl shook her head.

"No need for that. You'll wake everyone up." She blinked. The movement looked strange under large lenses that magnified her eyes slightly. "I'm just looking for Star."

Aelita tried to push the hand off of her mouth and panicked slightly when it wouldn't move.

"Don't scream," the girl said as she removed her hand. "I'm not going to do anything." She stood straight, no longer leaning over Aelita's bed. The glow from Aelita's computer, which the girl had apparently turned on, formed a halo around her waist length hair... was it silver? No, it probably just seemed to be in the darkness. Maybe it was blond.

"Who... are you?" Aelita asked, still staring at the girl. She wore a pink gown that appeared to be old and that barely reached her knees. Were those Hello Kitty faces on it?

"Well, I'm certainly not Star," the girl said.

"Uh, yes, I know that. But who are you?"

"Twi."

"That's your name?"

"Part of it, yes." The girl paused. "I'd tell you my full name, but what's the fun in that?" She smiled and sat at the foot of Aelita's bed. "Who are you?"

"Aelita." Aelita was beginning to get irritated, but most anyone would have been if a stranger had gone into their room, woken them up, and started a random conversation. "What are you doing here? How did you even get _in _here? The door is locked."

"Lock-picking can be quite easy with my tools." Twi blew hair out of her face. "And I've told you already. I'm here for Star. I assume that bed is hers?"

Aelita glanced over at the bed. To her surprise, it was empty. "Yea—wait." She frowned suspiciously at Twi. "Why do you want Star?"

"Questions, questions, questions. My, you're a curious one, aren't you?" Twi tilted her head.

Aelita looked at Twi, half annoyed and half confused. "Look, you're the one that's barging into my room at..." She glanced at the clock and became even more annoyed. "2:06am. I don't know what you do at night, but normal people need to sleep." Aelita surprised herself with the rudeness in her own tone.

Twi frowned. "You sound like my brother. But hey, nobody likes talking to me. That's okay. I'll go find Star on my own." Her tone was strangely musical and detached, as if she was only half paying attention to what she said.

Aelita sighed, rubbing her temples to keep back a headache. Okay, so there was a girl named Twi that wanted Star, and she had decided to try to find her at 2am, of all times.

"Wait."

Twi had been halfway out the door. She turned.

"I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be rude, but it's not exactly polite to come into someone's room in the middle of the night without permission, much less a stranger's. This is a boarding school. And as far as I know, you're not a student," Aelita said, yawning as she finished.

"Not yet. I'm new, actually." Twi smiled. "But I'm afraid that the principal isn't here at this hour to meet with. So I was hoping to find Star and stay in her room until I can meet with the principal."

"Oh. But why her and not someone else?"

"She's my cousin."

Everything made slightly more sense now. Slightly. "Ah." Aelita stood reluctantly and stretched her arms over her head, yawning again. "She's probably in the bathroom or something."

"Oh, thank you." Then Twi had suddenly left.

"Wait," Aelita whispered quickly, but the door was already closed. She hurried out and immediately collided with something in the dark hall. "Oof."

"Sorry," said Twi's voice in a whisper.

Through a combination of shuffling, feeling the walls, and squinting, Aelita and Twi went through the dark halls without too much noise.

"I can be clumsy sometimes," Twi said unnecessarily as she bumped into Aelita for what the pink haired girl counted the sixth time. Aelita considered it a miracle that they hadn't woken half the dorm with their stumbling.

When they reached the bathroom, the bright light made them both squint. Blinking rapidly, the girls adjusted to the bright light.

"Anyone here?" Aelita asked, voice sounding loud after the quiet halls. She waited for a moment. Coughing and gagging noises were her response.

Aelita and Twi both shared a grimace. After several seconds, the sounds stopped.

"Aelita?" inquired Star's weak voice.

"And me. Boy, you don't sound too good, Star," Twi said before Aelita had the chance to answer. "Have you been eating cinnamon again? I specifically told you not to eat any. Don't you recall?"

"Twi?" This time her voice was surprised. "I she cut herself off and the horrible gagging continued. It lasted a few moments. "Ugh. It's like my stomach was turned inside out. I feel horrible."

"You sound horrible too," Twi said.

"What are you doing here?" The sound of a toilet flushing followed. Star half stumbled out of the fourth stall, appearing pale and sleepy. Her partly closed eyes seemed to have trouble focusing on Twi.

"What am I doing here? Well, depends on what you mean by here." The girl paused for a moment. "If you mean here as in the bathroom, then I was trying to find you. But I've done that. If you mean here as in Kadic, then I'll need a more specific question to provide a satisfactory answer."

Star walked to the sink and rinsed her mouth out, completely ignoring her cousin. Twi followed, blinking curiously as she waited for a response. Aelita yawned and stood where she was.

"I see you're still as long winded as ever," Star said once she was finished, looking her cousin up and down. Her eyes came to rest on the glasses. "And blind."

"So are you. It runs in the family. To be honest, I'm surprised Dawn doesn't have glasses yet. Maybe she will sometime. Anyway, hi to you too, since I haven't seen you in such a long time. Try not to get too excited," Twi said. Her musical tone contained a touch of sarcasm.

"I think I'll manage." Star stretched, yawning, then looked at Aelita. "Did this nutcase wake you up, Aelita? Don't worry, she did the same thing to me once. Got me out of bed in the middle of the night and forced me to go outside. I freaked out, thinking something was wrong. Turns out she just found a particularly interesting star, which turned out to be just a helicopter." Star looked pointedly at Twi, who frowned.

"Remember, Star, your mom said not to call me a nutcase. And yes, it was a very interesting star, even if it was only a helicopter."

"But you don't get people out of bed in the middle of the Star cut herself off with a sigh. She knew, even if her overtired brain was annoyed, deep down, her heart was glad to see her cousin. But her brain was winning.

"Look, I've been up half the night." She grimaced. "But I know all of us are pretty tired. Except for you," Star said. She looked at Twi with a raised eyebrow, asking a silent question.

The silver haired girl assumed a serious expression that looked strange and out of place on her face. She nodded slightly. Star bit her lip in response, her eyes saying something that Aelita couldn't understand. She had the sense that they were exchanging a wordless conversation.

"So let's get to bed. Twi, I have some extra blankets and pillows. We'll talk in the morning," Star said. Her stomach grumbled in protest and she put a hand on it. "Ugh. That is, if I survive until morning."

Once they were all back in the room, Aelita immediately went back to sleep while Star bordered on it restlessly. Twi lied in the darkness for several minutes, only going to the computer once her cousin was asleep.

She carefully read over the email that she had opened earlier, glad that Aelita or Star hadn't noticed it, and clicked reply.

_I'm at Kadic. What do I do now?_

Twi hesitated for a moment, then clicked send and shut the computer off. As she curled up under the covers, a dark, inky looking substance slithered under the door between Star and Aelita's beds. It hesitated for a moment, then crawled up the left bed and into its owner's ear. Star gave a quiet moan and turned over.

But Twi was already asleep.

* * *

"So it's agreed? Later tonight we leave to recover the fragments. If we can manage it in about an hour, then we'll be just in time for the end of the year dance," Jeremy confirmed, sliding the computer farther along his lap to hide it from view.

Ulrich and Odd, occupying the seats in front of him, nodded eagerly. Behind him, Colton gave a thumbs up.

"I can't wait," Aelita murmured from her seat next to Jeremy. "This is the first school dance I've been to." She caught Jeremy's eye and beamed. Jeremy fought a blush and looked back at his laptop. "Everything seems to be in order. The only one not here is Star. Does anyone know where she is?"

"She's sick," Aelita said. "Her cousin brought her to the infirmary this morning."

"Cousin?"

"Oh, yeah. That reminds me; I need to tell you guys why I was up at 2am this morning," Aelita said. As she began to describe the morning's events, a girl rushed into the classroom, her silver hair swishing behind her.

"Sorry I'm late, ma'am. I had to bring Star to the infirmary this morning."

"Quite all right," Mrs. Hertz said absently as she stared at the papers on her desk. She'd have to reschedule that meeting to quarter to four if she wanted to have time for Jim's salsa lessons... When she felt the student's eyes on her, she glanced up and tried not to appear surprised.

First, she had encountered Odd's purple hair. Then it was a strange pink haired student that seemed to come from nowhere. There was also a girl in Belpois' little group that had a streak of green in her hair. Now there was a tall, slender girl with hair the color of polished metal and glasses that made her eyes large like an owl's.

The student tilted her head, still waiting for a response, and Mrs. Hertz halted her mental scan. She attempted a smile that looked no different from a neutral expression. "Ah, yes, you are..."

"Twi," the girl supplied.

"Your name?"

"No, but that is what I prefer to be called."

"All right. I take it you've gotten a schedule and supplies. You can have a seat right there." She pointed to the only vacant spot, a chair next to Colton. Twi nodded and walked swiftly to her seat, not noticing the various pairs of boys' eyes staring at her. However, she did notice the sudden hush that fell over the small group of six when she took her seat.

"Good morning," she said cheerily, directing her smile at Aelita before the others. "Ulrich, Odd, Colton, Jeremy, and your girlfriend, Aelita." She gave a nod to each of them in turn.

While Jeremy blushed, stumbling over his denial, Aelita shrugged, embarrassed. The others nodded. Any conversation that would have started was cut off as Mrs. Hertz rapped a ruler on her desk for silence and began her lesson.

Though she received many stares in the hallway between classes, both for her looks and hair, the "new student" aura that Twi was wearing quickly wore off. Soon, she was only another one of those weirdos who seemed to be in that nerd's group.

Twi herself was very bored. The classes were easy, and the students were so plain—except for her cousin's friends. They were nice, funny, and something else. She could sense some sort of thing between them as she sat at their table at lunch, something that bound them together. They weren't just friends... They had some sort of wordless pact, something important between them.

This was what pushed out the science that was supposed to be occupying Twi's brain during last period. She frowned, staring hard at the back of Jeremy's head the way she had stared at the computer screen, willing it to give up secrets. She was as unsuccessful as before.

The clock gave a small chime, pulling Twi out of her stare. She looked up at it and sighed, then went back to staring at the back of Jeremy's head. There was still ten minutes left.

Then there was a small beep. Jeremy's head looked down instead of forward, and Twi noticed something black being slid onto his lap. Was that a laptop? She craned her neck for a view as Jeremy's hand shot up.

"Ma'am? May I go to the infirmary? I... don't feel very well." Then he shot a quick glance at someone across the room. Twi realized that the glance was for two someones: Ulrich and Odd. Ulrich gave a small shake of his head and Odd nodded.

"I'll take him!" Aelita volunteered.

Mrs. Hertz didn't even glance up from her papers. "Go on."

As the two jumped up, Odd raised a hand and said, "Ma'am, I'm not feeling too well either. Could I go to the infirmary?"

"I'll take him." Before Twi knew what she had said, she was getting up. She ignored the looks of surprise as she followed Odd out of the room.

Twi waited as Odd, Jeremy, and Aelita exchanged glances. They seemed to be having a silent conversation.

"Well, come on." She cocked her head.

The three followed with slow, reluctant steps, whispering to each other. Twi ignored it until she was outside the door to the infirmary, then sighed and turned around.

"You don't have to make a plan to get away from me. I know something's up; if you're going to go wherever you're going, then do it. I won't tell. But I might follow."

Startled, the three blinked.

"You really won't tell anyone if we leave right now?" Jeremy asked.

"Nope. But I might follow," she said, then pointed down the hall. "Hide around that corner, right now."

"Why?"

As if in answer, Yolande's muffled voice came from inside, "I'm coming, coming! Hold on a moment!"

They were out of sight only a few moments before the door had opened.

"Yes...? Weren't you here this morning?"

"Yes ma'am," said Twi in her dreamy, musical tone. "I've just come to check on my cousin."

Yolande frowned. "Your cousin... the one you brought in this morning, Star?"

"Yes ma'am."

"She left a little under fifteen minutes ago," she said, looking at her watch.

Left? Instead of displaying her confusion, Twi gave a single nod and swiftly walked away before Yolande could ask why she wasn't in class.

Twi didn't even glance at the corner as she passed it. The three were gone already. She hurried out into the courtyard, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of them. A flash of pink presented itself at the edge of the trees, then disappeared.

It was all Twi needed. She accelerated across the courtyard at a sprint and stood at the edge of the trees, wondering, like with the email, what she was getting herself into.

Then her immediate curiosity took over. A black haired figure, standing at the edge of the courtyard, watched the silver haired figure as she disappeared into the trees.

Curiosity was a strong force, the girl might have pondered, if she wasn't so busy being tugged by it. But the only thing the boy was pondering as he followed was if Yumi was out of class yet.

* * *

I haven't updated in forever... ;a; I'm sorry! I'm super busy with camp nano going on in June, but I just couldn't leave this sitting here.

I'll make the updates faster, promise.


	13. Reconnaissance

"Star?"

The blond haired girl didn't stop her rapid-fire typing. Back hunched and hands flying over the keyboard at a speed only Jeremy could manage, she appeared to be more machine than girl in a quick glance.

Jeremy glanced at Odd and Aelita and gave a small nod. _Possessed, _he mouthed, but it was unnecessary. The whole team, including Odd and Aelita, had long before known what that look meant. They'd shared it too many times to keep count and both knew that it wasn't the last time they would.

Jeremy quietly tried to outline a plan as well as one could with hand signals, but Odd was too busy jumping in impulsively, as usual, Jeremy thought with annoyance.

"Banzai!"

He didn't know why Odd insisted on screaming that stupid word. It only alerted their opposition to their presence. Note to self, Jeremy thought. Lecture Odd about stealth while he pretended to listen later.

Star whirled around, a look of complete surprise on her face. She stuck her arms out, managing to absorb most of the impact, but still couldn't hold back a breathless _oof _as the boy who looked scrawny but felt _heavy _slammed into her.

"Get off of me," she grunted, trying to push Odd off of her. The blond haired boy compliantly slid off, dusting off his pants.

"Sorry. Had to make sure you weren't Xanafied," he said, not sounding sorry at all.

"Of course I'm not," Star snapped, then whirled back around and continued typing. Odd, Jeremy, and Aelita stared at her for a few moments.

"I'm getting this "leave me alone cause' you made me mad" vibe from her," Odd whispered.

"No surprise there," Jeremy muttered as he walked to the computer. "Odd, Aelita, get to the scanners. You too, Star. What are you working on?"

She typed for a few more seconds, slid out of the chair, and flashed the genius a brief smile. "Just practicing on stuff. You wouldn't believe how boring it is, sitting in the infirmary and doing nothing. I couldn't stand it. I begged Yolanda to let me out, and since I don't look like a wreck—total wreck, anyway—anymore, she did." Star winked and followed Odd down the ladder.

"Right." The computer chair and headset were all too familiar to Jeremy. He started the process—despite it being complicated, he hardly had to think about it. While almost anyone else besides Aelita would have been anxious and stiff, it was routine enough to Jeremy that he performed the task with as much casualty as brushing his teeth.

"Transfer, Scanner, Virtualization."

They were words that had been and would be spoken over and over again. Like the chair and the headset, Jeremy didn't take time to think about them. He had a mission to accomplish—even if he wouldn't be in Lyoko with the others, it was his responsibility as well as theirs to make sure it succeeded.

"The Tower is in Sector Five. I'm sending the overboard and overwing in case you guys see monsters and need to split." Jeremy typed in a command.

"Great, Einstein! I'm ready to bust some blockheads," Odd said, voice crackling slightly in static.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, wishing Odd could see it. "Be on the look out for monsters."

"Righto," said Star.

"Of course, Jeremy," came Aelita's softer and sweeter tone. Jeremy almost smiled.

Three anxious and planning-filled minutes for Jeremy and vigilance for the warriors later, Odd piped up, "Big blue cab to the big blue place, please!"

Jeremy wordlessly typed _Scipio _and continued to type. Several moments later he heard Odd's usual groan and complaint of nausea, then Star telling him to suck it up.

"Easy for you to say," the feline whined. Star threateningly swung her staff, and Odd's voice became quiet.

"Thank you," Jeremy breathed quietly.

"What was that, Einstein?"

"You have two minutes to find the key," he covered. "It's on… the ceiling?" A note of surprise had crept into his tone.

All three Lyoko warriors looked up. As Jeremy had said, there was the familiar, circular shape of the key on the ceiling.

"Anyone got any ideas?" Odd asked. "Jumping is out, even for me. It's got to be at least fifty feet or something."

They looked at each other.

"I have an idea," Star said, a grin suddenly stretching her lips. Unnervingly, it looked to Aelita more like the "I'm going to kill you" grin she received from specters than a friendly one. "But you won't like it."

"Whoa, what's with the creepy—oh, right…" Odd trailed off as the Xana symbol flickered in Star's eyes. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh is right. Odd, didn't you check her eyes before?" Aelita and Jeremy chorused, the blond's tone more accusing.

A sheepish no made its way across the communications. Jeremy sighed, staring at the red dots on the computer screen. This was getting better and better. "And now you have company—four creepers, two on each side."

As he spoke, panels in the wall about ten feet from the ceiling opened to deposit creepers. Odd and Aelita didn't waste any time—energy fields and laser arrows were flying, and soon both had their life points reduced by half while there were still two creepers left. The room had transformed as they zigzagged, trying to avoid getting pelted by the lasers.

It was difficult to do so, Aelita managed to reflect with irritation as she threw another energy field—Yes, one creeper down, one to go!—when foot-long pieces of the room would suddenly jerk up or down, throwing them horribly off balance.

Star simply watched with a bored expression, sitting on a higher platform that didn't move.

"Einstein, we could really use a little help!" Odd called, priming his laser arrows. The panels had deposited another set of creepers—eight, this time.

"I can't get a hold of Yumi, Colton, or Ulrich. Class should be over now; they're supposed to have their phones on them." A note of frustration entered Jeremy's voice, then Aelita and Odd heard a muffled exclamation of surprise.

Jeremy cupped a hand over the microphone piece, turning in his chair to face the silver-haired girl that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. "What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd follow." She brushed her palms on her shorts, which, Jeremy noticed, were a dark blue and didn't at all match her yellow-striped tank top. Seeing his questioning look, Twi said, "I heard the sounds of the skateboards and scooter. It took a few wrong turns, but I rode the elevator to the floor below and climbed up the ladder." She jerked a thumb at the ladder, then waved a hand at the computer. "This is all amazing. I'd absolutely love to study this; the machinery is like nothing I've seen before."

She didn't have to tell him that. A chance visit to the factory had basically carved a sharp U-turn in Jeremy's life. What would have happened if he hadn't stumbled upon this machine? What would have happened if he didn't have the courage to turn it on? Would he still spend most of his time in his room, friendless, making robots as a hobby and completely oblivious to the beautiful elf and dangerous threat that lurked in the computer?

Jeremy gave a tiny shake of his head. This wasn't the time to think about that.

"Einstein, we really need some help in here. Call again," Odd said, his voice unnaturally serious.

Jeremy uncovered his mic and turned, resuming his typing. "I'm trying; I'm trying. They're not responding."

"Uh oh. We still have five creepers left, and now the big ol' jellyfish is here." Though Odd joked, his voice was serious.

Jeremy felt a slight adrenaline trickle into his system. This wasn't adrenaline for physical feat, but mental—he couldn't do much from the computer, but pressing one key could still be the difference between keeping or losing Aelita's memories. He pushed down the shoots of panic that tried to creep their way out of the pit he restrained it in. Like always, he couldn't afford a mistake, and definitely not one from panic.

"I'm reloading your laser arrows, Odd—" The quickly dwindling numbers in the corner caught Jeremy's eye. "You have less than one minute to hit the key."

"Don't forget the fact that I have less than half of my life points, princess is about two seconds away from getting captured by the schypozoa, and oh, yeah, the key is on the ceiling." Odd dashed forward on all fours as Aelita was backed against the wall. She desperately conjured energy fields, but before she could throw them, the floor would raise or lower and throw her aim off.

A sudden lowering piece in the front and rising piece in the back caused Odd to trip, tumbling into a roll. He let out a small noise, tried to push himself back up, but fell again as the floor continued to move.

"Odd, stop playing games!" Jeremy exclaimed. The panic was starting to escape. They had always won, some way or another. Maybe it was a desperate block for Aelita or an incredibly lucky shot that destroyed that last monster, but Aelita always made it to the tower. somehow. Jeremy had the brief thought that their luck had stretched to its limits.

"This floor is impossible to balance on!" Odd was writhing on the ground. The pieces seemed to rise and lower faster now, and Aelita was practically on her knees, still conjuring energy fields while facing the schypozoa with a brave face.

"How can I help?"

Jeremy shot a quick glance over his shoulder. Twi's face had hardened slightly, eyes and tone becoming more serious. The seriousness changed her face completely. The distant, daydreaming, and possibly crazy girl was gone. "How can I help?" she repeated, then added, "I know desperation when I see it."

The blond opened his mouth, then closed it. What could he do? Nothing from the computer. Sometimes being on this side was almost too frustrating for Jeremy to bare. The only thing that could possibly tip the scales was him going to Lyoko himself, which was out of the question, or making the decision to allow Twi into their secret.

"Jeremy!" Odd cried one more time before he was devirtualized in a burst of pixels.

"Scanner, right?" Twi asked, already at the ladder. "Gotcha." She began to slide down.

"But the risks..." Jeremy tried feebly, then trailed off as she disappeared from sight.

"Jeremy." This time it was Aelita's voice, trying to disguise terror.

"I'm sending in Twi." He began typing, trying to force his doubts away. They had already excepted two new warriors; they had plenty enough. There was no guarantee that Twi would keep the secret. Could she be trusted?

No, not now. Concentrate. "Transfer, scanner, virtualization."

The picture of Twi popped up as the numbers went red, dropping to zero. Simultaneously, the schypozoa drew Aelita into its grasp and began the process of stealing her memories. Her eyes unfocused as the terror slipped away, and her face and body went slack.

Twi virtualized and dropped down onto the floor, wobbling. She looked down at her outfit with surprise and delight. A small, sleeveless green vest with the pattern of a computer chip rested over a long-sleeved silver shirt. Similarly colored pants reached down to black boots. Her hair—

"Twi, an opening is going to appear in the blue dome you're in. I need you to take the first right you see, and go down that corridor until you reach a big room. Once there, attack the schypozoa—the monster that looks like a jellyfish."

Twi gave a nod and started off at a run, not bothering to look up at the ceiling. She assumed that Jeremy used the headset—it was quite nice; she'd like one of those—to communicate. Her hair didn't flap behind her as usual, Twi noticed. It was secured in a neat braid, under a yellow hardhat.

Jeremy watched impatiently, tapping his fingers on the armrest as a green dot advanced on the path to the room, not nearly fast enough for his taste. Aelita's memories were at 75% and slowly lessening. 63%. 60%. 56%.

"Interesting," Twi remarked as her eyes raked the room, taking in the creepers and her reclining, smiling cousin. Her pupils dilated slightly, but her expression remained neutral. "What do I do? I don't have any weapons."

"You won't know your weapons until you try something," Jeremy said, then noticed that the room was the same as before. "Odd," he murmured to himself. The creepers had also disappeared from the panels they had come from.

"Yeah?" came a voice behind him.

Jeremy jumped, not bothering to glance over his shoulder. "Don't do that.

"Sorry if I gave you a scare, Einstein." Odd draped an arm over the chair, his stiff and tense frame betraying casual movements. "You sent Twi in? Why?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" asked Jeremy harshly, a note of defensiveness entering his tone. His fingers increased their tapping. Aelita had 23% of her memory left.

As Odd and Jeremy ran over the risks of accepting a new member, Twi searched the large utility belt slung around her waist. The closest thing to a weapon she could find was a horseshoe shaped magnet.

Star let out a snigger.

Only 12% of her memory left. Jeremy gripped the armrests hard enough to make his knuckles turn white. Nothing he did would help now. Odd was walking in circles behind him, still attempting to call one of the others. 10%. 7%.

Twi didn't look at her. _Improvise for a weapon. _Bending her arm back, Twi wound up for a throw at the thing's tentacles and almost jerked her head back as her vision focused. She realized that her huge glasses had turned into goggles. The must have had different abilities, Twi thought, feeling a twinge of satisfaction. With the goggles, the throw felt much more organized and full of confidence.

The magnet locked onto one of the tentacles. For a few moments, nothing happened.

4%.

Star smirked at Twi, who didn't allow the spark of annoyance she felt to show in her eyes.

3%.

"Twi," Jeremy burst out, unable to contain himself. His eyes were widened slightly. She didn't move.

2%.

Then the magnet exploded. The tentacles retracted as the schypozoa uttered a low cry, dropping its prize, and slunk through an opening in the wall that quickly slid closed behind it.

Star was now annoyed, but she continued to dangle her feet from her perch.

Twi ran over, offering a hand to Aelita as her eyes fluttered. She blinked, and with a look of confusion, took the hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.

Jeremy let out a sigh of relief, sinking back in his chair. Well, he could cross "just barely save Aelita's memories" off of this daily to-do list.

"Yes!" whooped Odd, grinning. He was also more relaxed, but both boys couldn't help turning in surprise when the elevator doors opened to reveal a panting Yumi Ishiyama.

"Sorry... I'm late," she said, chest heaving as she stumbled towards the ladder. "Got my phone taken away... after it rang... in the middle of class. Ulrich and Colton are trapped." She took a few seconds to get her breath, then said in a rush, "I'm not sure why, but none of them can get out. They said that Xana was attacking, so I came as fast as I could, but I bumped into William and took a while shooing him away." Red-faced, Yumi leaned over, hands on her knees.

"Twi is already in sector five with Aelita. She almost had her memories wiped, but she's fine now." _Hopefully. If that Xanafied Star doesn't suddenly decide that she doesn't want to play nice anymore. _"Star is Xanafied, warning you now. Get to the scanners."

"Who's Twi?"

"Star's cousin, long story." Jeremy didn't take time from typing to wave a hand. "Get to the scanner."

The black haired girl nodded, straightening, and hurried down.

Odd scratched his head, frowning as he walked closer to the computer. "Hey, Einstein. How did you get her straight into sector five? I thought you couldn't yet."

"I had a theory," Jeremy admitted. "I just didn't want to test it yet. We weren't desperate."

"So you were waiting until our lives possibly depended on the successful virtualization straight into sector five to try it out?" Odd asked.

"No; of course not," Jeremy said, but further explanation was not forthcoming.

Meanwhile, two heads turned on Lyoko, one pink haired and another wearing a yellow hard hat as Yumi materialized. She landed gracefully, bending her knees to absorb the impact.

"Hello, Yumi," Twi said.

"Um, hi." Yumi blinked, taken aback by Twi's appearance and knowledge of her name. "Who..." Then she stopped herself. Only important questions could be asked right now. "Can you fight?"

Twi shrugged honestly. "I can do my best."

Good enough for now. Yumi gave a sharp nod, then looked at Aelita. They both nodded at each other.

Underneath the mask of neutrality and calm, Twi was suppressing her amazement and excitement. A virtual world! How intriguing. Dawn would have wondered how it was made, but Twi was more interested in he machinery that supported the virtual world.

The sensations were amazing too—or, more accurately, the lack of them. There was no breathing, smelling, or tasting. No touching either, Twi had discovered as she helped Aelita up. It was as if she hadn't touched anything, like a leg that had fallen asleep, except the pins and needles never came.

"Okay guys, head down the corridor on the left," Jeremy said suddenly. "Keep an eye out for Aelita's fragments."

Aelita and Yumi nodded. "My memory fragments," Aelita briefly explained. "Xana, a demonic artificial intelligence, is contained within this virtual world. He stole my memories; we're trying to get them back. But right now, he's attacking, so we have to ward off the attack by deactivating towers. I'm the only one who can do so. Your cousin is possessed by Xana at the moment, and when I deactivate the tower, she'll return to normal."

It was sad how crazy that sounded, especially to Aelita's own ears.

"Wait to go, princess, for giving her the shortened version of our nightmare," Odd said.

"A demonic artificial intelligence named Xana. It—he—sounds lovely," Twi added.

Yumi and Aelita nodded and started off at a run, but Star jumped down and blocked the way with her staff.

"Looking for these?" Her voice was low and slightly twisted. Twi had to resist a cringe.

Star held out a hand. Resting in her palm was a basketball-sized, transparent sphere with various images flashing inside of it: a grey-haired man with spectacles, a pink haired woman, a wolf, a snowman. Everyone blinked at it but Aelita, who stared at it with a hungry longing.

"My memories," she murmured in quiet explanation.

"Smart elf." Star's smile stretched to a grin. "Do you want them? If so, come and get them." Then she whirled around and sped off, disappearing through the corridor.

* * *

"Idiot. Couldn't you have waited until the return to the past to knock it over?" Colton whispered harshly out of the side of his mouth.

"I told you for the thousandth time, I'm sorry," Ulrich responded, grumbling slightly. At the bell chimed, Colton and Ulrich were the first to jump out of their seats. The brunette had bumped the vial resting on the Mrs. Hertz's desk in his hurry.

Even as the she gasped and lunged forward for it, the vial was on the floor, cracked. Mrs. Hertz had immediately jumped up and slammed the door, ordering the students to close the windows. It was some sort of gas that wasn't good for people to breath or something; Ulrich had stopped listening once he heard the words "not fatal" and "remain here for at least another half hour".

Everyone had been forced back into their desks, talking loudly amongst themselves. Some glares and scowls were thrown Ulrich's way, but he returned them with as much sharpness as their owners had. Mrs. Hertz had quickly become tired of the noise and quieted the class.

"Still at least twenty minutes left," Colton breathed as his gaze locked on the clock, tapping his foot quietly. "I hope they're not in too much trouble."

"Yumi's probably there by now. They can handle it," Ulrich said confidently, also turning his head toward the clock, willing it to go faster. "Then we'll regroup, find Aelita's fragments, and still be back in time for the dance."

Colton half smirked. "Oh, yes, because I'm sure you're eager to watch Yumi dance with William and dance with the queen of the school herself."

Ulrich's expression instantly turned to anger. "It's not funny."

"It's quite amusing to me." Colton blinked as the big hand moved forward half an inch. Nineteen minutes were left. "Well, if you don't like it, what are you going to do to fix it?"

Ulrich watched the clock for a moment more, then leaned on an easy, closing answer.

"Shut up."

* * *

Yumi, Aelita, and Twi watched the empty corridor for a few moments. Only when Jeremy's voice came across, saying to follow did Aelita shoot forward. She was followed by Yumi, then Twi, who lagged behind.

"Star's going through a maze," Jeremy said as the three girls slowed to a stop at three paths. "Follow her."

Each girls chose a path: the middle for Aelita, the left for Twi, and the right for Yumi. They quickly made it through despite choosing many wrong turns, and Yumi was the last out.

"She's fast," Jeremy said, a note of admiration in his voice. _I'm going to have to try enhancing their capabilities like that too._

"We couldn't tell," said Yumi in a slightly dry voice. "Where is she now?"

"At the interface." Jeremy frowned has his computer screen and began typing. "Get there, quick. I'm not sure what she's doing, but it can't be good."

The three girls started off. "Hey, Einstein?" Yumi said. "How can Star be possessed? I thought we were immune?"

"I'm not sure, Yumi. Maybe she isn't as strong." _Or maybe Xana's getting stronger. _Jeremy shivered at the thought. "Besides, she was sick earlier. Her body might still be weak from fighting whatever it was."

Yumi nodded, not caring if Jeremy couldn't see it, and threw a glance behind her. "You okay? You've been quiet."

Twi nodded. "I'm just trying to take it in."

"Yeah," said Yumi in understanding. They waited, then jumped on the moving platform. A moment of panic appeared as Twi's mistimed jump left her hanging from the platform, then it passed when Yumi and Aelita quickly hauled her up. They walked through the door slowly.

Aelita's memories hung in the air behind Star while she worked on the interface.

"I'll get Star. You can grab your memories," Yumi said, then shifted her gaze from Aelita to Twi. "Just watch for now."

Before Twi could say anything, Star turned around and quickly snatched the sphere out of the air. "Company. Oh, I was done anyway," she said, stepping close to the edge of the platform.

A sudden shaking caused everyone to crouch, trying to keep balance. Bits of code mixed together, and Yumi was hit with the sudden urge to run back, a horrible feeling that it was going to collapse setting in her stomach.

"What is that?" Aelita cried over the loud rumbling.

"I have no idea, but I don't think it's anything good," Yumi said, having to yell to be heard over the noise. She frowned, noticing the flash of fear in Star's eyes. It was gone as quickly as it had come, and the three-legged target symbol returned.

Star smiled—once again, the creepy "I'm going to kill you"—stepping back until her heels were hanging off the edge of the platform, and closed her eyes. The sphere was held carefully between both hands.

Somehow, Jeremy knew what Star would do. Twi reached the same conclusion even as the blond was typing furiously.

Star allowed herself to fall backwards. Yumi and Aelita let out a small cry, but Twi was running ahead, knowing it was too late to grab her hand and too late to stop. The overwing materialized next to the platform as Twi reached the end of it, stumbling on.

The overwing jerked sharply downwards. Twi couldn't hold back a yelp as she gripped the handle bars, steering it carefully toward Star. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, snatched Star's arm, and steered the overwing back upwards.

Star hissed with displeasure and kicked. Twi tilted sideways, gasping, and wrapped one arm around the top of the overwing. To Aelita and Yumi, it looked like an insect with broken wings was trying to fight with another insect.

The overwing remained in the air for several seconds, rising and falling, until Twi and Star tumbled onto the platform. The overwing shot into the data stream, then exploded in a burst of pixels.

Twi and Star wrestled on the ground while Aelita worked on the interface.

"Jeremy, I can deactivate the tower from here!" she said, sounding shocked. "I have to get through several barriers, but I'll be able to do it."

"Go ahead, Aelita."

"As soon as possible, please," said Twi with a grunt. She was pressing on top of a struggling Star, pressing down on her shoulders. A sudden burst of electricity seemed to shoot from her hands—she wore gloves like Star's. They appeared to be made out of metal.

Star winced and threw out the hand with the blue glove. A blue spark raced along Twi and she immediately collapsed, shivering violently. Star jumped up and looked toward the opening—the schypozoa had appeared.

"Again?" Jeremy muttered to himself in dismay. He had never seen it this far out.

Instead of moving toward Aelita, the schypozoa stopped. Star ran toward it with an eerie eagerness, spreading her arms like she wanted to hug it.

Yumi immediately shuddered, regretting the thought. She whipped out her fans and opened them with an almost inaudible _shhk, _drawing back to throw, when a painful blast of cold exploded in her chest.

Star was smiling, gloved hand out. Yumi collapsed, shivering, and her fans slipped out of numb fingers.

"Ae... Ae... l-lit-ta," she managed, curled into a ball in an attempt to lessen the agonizing cold.

The pink haired girl paused her work, taking stock of the situation with widened eyes and a brief glance: both Yumi an Twi were down for the count; she couldn't expect help from them. For some reason, the schypozoa was now holding Star.

Though she didn't wish it on a teammate—even one that was trying to kill you—Aelita couldn't deny she was glad that, for once, the empty look was in someone else's eyes.

"Energy field." The pink orb shot from her hand, but the aim was sloppy and quick. The energy field grazed the top of the schypozoa but did no visual damage.

Aelita turned back around, continuing her now rushed work. "Jeremy? What's the schypozoa doing?"

"I'm not sure." The worry in his voice was unmistakeable, even through the crackle of static. "But it's nothing good."

"Where are my memories, Jeremy? Did they fall into the digital void?"

"No. Star must have taken them." The blond spun around in his chair to face the shorter, skinnier blond, and snapped, "Would you stop that?"

Odd caught the tennis ball he had been bouncing off of the wall. "Sorry."

Jeremy turned back around, rubbing his temples in a vain attempt to keep back a headache. So, Yumi and Twi were down for the count; Odd had already been devirtualized, and Yumi and Twi were suffering from colds.

Jeremy immediately shook his head, the oncoming headache making him regret it a moment later. Now he was making jokes like Odd. Star was the only one that would laugh at those stupid jokes, but she wouldn't be back to laugh at them if—

A sudden rush of panic raised Jeremy's typing speed. He clamped down on it, trying to concentrate. "Aelita, get Star away from the schypozoa. Now!"

"Why?"

"It's doing something to her. Scrambling part of her brain. Get her away from it, now."

Without further questioning, Aelita whirled around and conjured an energy field, only to jerk her arm as she shot at Jeremy's panicked "Wait, don't shoot!"

"Well, what is it?" Aelita asked, arm still in a shooting position. "Shoot or not?"

"Ngh," Jeremy grunted as he worriedly eyed the screen, fingers twitching over keys. He moved his hand to the armrest, unwilling for a mistake to be had by nervousness. "Don't."

Aelita lowered her arm.

"Part of Star's brain is now connected to Xana. If the connection is suddenly broken, she could sustain some serious neural damage. We'll just have to wait it out."

"D-D-Divurtualize us w-while you're... at it, J-Jeremy," Yumi forced out through violent shivers and clenched teeth. "Th-This is p-p-painful."

Jeremy wordlessly did so. Only a few moments later, Yumi and Twi were breaking apart, pixel by pixel.

The scanners hissed as they opened. Yumi was slumped in one of them, still shivering, while Twi almost threw herself out of the other.

"What's your problem?" asked Yumi in surprise as Twi almost slammed into her.

"Small space." She shivered, rubbing her arms. "It feels like being buried alive."

_Claustrophobia, _thought Yumi. She wordlessly starting climbing the ladder, knowing that Twi would prefer it to an elevator. The silver-haired girl followed.

"Jeremy, what's happening to—huh?" Odd asked, suddenly blinking at Twi. He'd seen her on the screen, but the sudden appearance of a silver-haired girl with huge glasses threw him slightly off.

"Odd," Twi said as she politely dipped her head and walked over to stand by Yumi and Jeremy. "I apologize—I wasn't much of a help."

"You saved Aelita's memory. Granted, that happens almost every Lyoko trip," Jeremy admitted, not tearing his eyes away from the screen, "but it still makes a difference."

Twi nodded. "This... this is amazing."

"The technology or the virtual world?"

She responded without hesitation. "The concept of both of them."

Jeremy nodded and opened his mouth, but Odd quickly waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello, Einstein! I want to know what's happening to Star. Geek out over this later."

Jeremy acknowledged him with only an annoyed look, jabbing carefully at the bridge of his glasses once to push them up, and returned his arms to the armrest. Still staring at the screen, his expression became considerably more anxious and miserable. "Xana's implanting a sort of virus in Star's mind. Once it's fully implanted, Xana will be able to control her permanently."

Odd shifted his weight to his left foot so he could peer over Jeremy's shoulder—which was difficult enough, considering his height—but to his frustration, it only appeared as a cluster of random numbers and shapes. He didn't take the time to appreciate how Jeremy's knowledge of computers and programs extended to make understanding something like this child's play.

"How permanently? Like 'give me a couple of hours to fix it' permanently, or 'give me a couple of _days_ to fix it' permanently?" He asked instead, obvious concern seeping into his tone.

"I'm not sure I _can_ fix it," Jeremy said in a half mumble, a look of intense concentration on his face. He muttered something inaudible to himself, then said audibly, "I'm not completely sure that it's permanent, but at best estimate, this would take several weeks to reverse."

Odd sucked in a breath. Yumi's eyes narrowed while Twi blinked innocently, still in a casual, relaxed position. Judging by their reactions, she thought, she didn't really understand the gravity of the situation. Nonetheless, she assumed a look of similar concern and seriousness.

Jeremy made a frustrated noise and suddenly made a fist. Neither Yumi nor Odd were surprised; they both knew that he was in his 'Something's going really wrong, and I can't fix it, even though I should be able to' mood. Colton, Star, Ulrich, and Aelita had become familiar with it as well.

"There's nothing left to do but wait," he sighed, look of concentration now gone. "Got that, Aelita?"

"Yes, Jeremy."

Odd shifted anxiously at his shoulder while Yumi's fingers drummed a rhythm on her hip, an almost imperceptible flicker of nervousness passing through her eyes. Jeremy, making no attempt to hide his stress, squeezed the armrests and bit his lip.

The number went up. The virus was implanted up to 93%. Now 95%.

"Jeremy!" came Aelita's sudden gasp. "My memories are in the data stream. The ones Star had must have been a fake."

"Can you retrieve them?"

99%.

"I think so—"

The dot on the computer screen that symbolized the schyphozoa suddenly blinked out like an extinguished candle flame as the numbers hit 100%. Simultaneously, Aelita cut herself off with a yelp.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked, staring at the screen in surprise.

"The schyphozoa... it exploded," Aelita said, voice cracking as much from shock as static.

"Exploded?" Jeremy said, drawing strange looks from Odd and Yumi. "What do you mean, it exploded?"

"What else would I mean? It exploded! As in broke apart suddenly and with force," Aelita said, and anticipating the question, added, "Star and I are fine."

"The schyphozoa exploded?" Yumi asked incredulously. "How did it do that?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Jeremy snapped, throwing an unnecessarily sharp look at her.

"Jeremy, Star's coming toward me. She looks like she wants to kill me—the Xana symbol is still in her eyes."

"I'll bring her back then. Hold on a moment."

Aelita gasped.

"What is it now?" Jeremy asked as he typed, sounding more than slightly irritated. "Aelita? What is it?"

There was no answer.

"Aelita?"

"What are those numbers for?" Yumi asked, pointing to something in the corner.

Jeremy's eyes practically popped out of his head when he noticed what Yumi was pointing to. His hands jerked back from the keyboard as if they had been electrified, reached for it again, then twitched above the keyboard.

"Huh? Aelita's losing her memory. It's just... oh, no, it's going down really fast. How is this even...? She said the schyphozoa blew up, so... Why is she...?" Jeremy's expression quickly shifted as he blurted out the incomplete, panicked clips of thoughts that were swimming around in his head.

"How is Aelita losing her memory?" Yumi asked as she peered over Jeremy's shoulder with ease, having much more success than Odd.

"I don't know! I just... I don't know; I don't know what to do." Before he had finished his sentence, the numbers dropped to zero and turned red.

Jeremy, Odd, Yumi, and Twi, who understood the situation enough to be surprised, stared at the screen in shock. Aelita's dot on the screen blinked.

Up until then, Jeremy had been hunched forward in his chair as usual (which had brought on too many "Einstein, you're worse than the hunchback of notre dame"s than he could count), sweat beading on his brow and frame tensed in concentration. Now he collapsed into the chair, a relief on his back that was completely ignored by his thudding heart and suddenly sick stomach.

"That's... that's it," he said, his voice filled with a numb disbelief. "Aelita's gone."

"Gone?" Odd asked.

"Gone. She lost her memories. Gone," he added as an afterthought. His brain refused to believe that it was over this quickly. Jeremy never knew why, but apparently, he was figuring out, he had always harbored the thought in the negative parts of his brain that if they failed, they'd go out with a bang. There would be a big fight; Aelita almost make it to the tower.

It wasn't a small thing like this, a last-minute steal that almost seemed like cheating.

_It wasn't supposed to end this way_, Jeremy couldn't help but earlier panic turned into dread and washed over him completely. Their luck had really stretched to its limits this time.

Then it had snapped completely.

Jeremy buried his face in his hands.

"What does this mean for us?" Odd asked several seconds later in a low, serious tone that sounded nothing like the usual light and carefree tone their resident joker always used.

Jeremy spoke through his fingers, voice muffled. "It means that we've failed. Everyone." How widely he meant be _everyone_ settled in his stomach. This was on a much bigger scale than just some students in some boarding school. _Everyone_ wasn't just some friends or a school, not even a city or state.

So far Xana had possessed machines, people, controlled government lasers, and much more.

It was too horrifying to think of what Xana could do—and definitely would, to the rest of the world.

Jeremy uncovered his face at Yumi's gasps of horror. A black smoke was curling upward from the supercomputer.

"Xana," Odd breathed.

Jeremy didn't respond. Everything had frozen; he was sure that, even if his life depended on it—which it very well might have—he wouldn't be able to get out of his chair and take a single step away from that terrible thing.

One thought blotted out every other sensible and logical thought. Any plan Jeremy might have subconsciously come up with was shoved away by this one thought, demanding attention until it was positively screaming in his head.

_It wasn't supposed to end this way._

* * *

Sorry I took a bit longer than was planned.

Eight Year Old Matchmaker will be updated soon, if anyone's interested.

Yes, I'm looking at you, cadule.


End file.
